Nights In White Satin
by GhostOfAMelody
Summary: Highschool AU. Baby can remember the exact day she fell in love with her best friend Castiel Novak. She can also remember the exact day that Dean Winchester came along and ruined everything. Eventual Destiel.
1. Chapter 1

Here's my first attempt at a Highschool AU. I hope you guys all like it. The ideas just kind of came to me...

I own nothing but my own characters and all the other rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies.

* * *

The sound of fists striking flesh rang out across the courtyard. The combatants, a grim looking senior and overly cocky junior, paid almost no attention to the steadily growing crowd around them.

"You'd think they'd wait until after school to do this. First thing in the morning seems a bit ridiculous." I whispered to my best friend Castiel Novak.

"It's just a dominance thing. Winner gets to brag about it all day and nobody fucks with him for the rest of the semester." Cas replied wincing slightly as the senior delivered a particularly painful looking punch directly to the younger boy's jaw.

"Who is that guy anyways?" I nodded in the direction of the older boy.

"Dean Winchester, moved here last week with his brother Sam. Mom's dead, daddy issues, doesn't stay in one place too long, you know the type." Cas had a weird way of finding out everything about anyone he found interesting. As it so happened, I had heard of him before. Sam Winchester, the aforementioned brother, was my new lab partner and had mentioned his brother in passing.

"We should probably head to class before we're late. I'd rather not stick around to see the outcome of this." I tugged on his arm but he was glued to the scene in front of him.

"Dean will win and the other kid will spend the rest of his day in silence nursing a wounded ego and potentially broken jaw."

"Cas?"

"I suspect we'll hear about it more soon enough. A fight like this will spread like wildfire through the school…"

"CAS!"

"What? oh, sorry, Baby. We can leave now." He draped an arm over my shoulder as we headed back into the school. His use of my nickname never failed to make me smile. He himself had come up with it way back in our early teens. My love of Dirty Dancing hadn't gone by unnoticed and now there was hardly a friend of mine who didn't use the moniker. It did tend to lead to a lot of awkward conversations, however, in which I had to explain to people that no, Cas and I weren't dating, and no, I was not an "exotic dancer."

By our luck and overly keen nature, we did make it to our business management class on time and it was twenty minutes into the lecture that Dean sauntered in. I wasn't surprised that a senior was in the class, interest was small so students from all grades were combined into it, but I was surprised that _he_ was in it.

"Ahhh, I'm guessing you're Mr. Winchester, our new student. Glad to see you finally made it to class, I know how hard it is to walk such a long way." Mr. Crowley exclaimed sarcastically, earning snickers from the rest of the class.

"Yeah. Whatever." Dean stared around the classroom looking rather bored.

"Right then, have a seat next to Mr. Novak and Miss Moore in the back. And please take your time, I wouldn't want to rush you." Cas groaned quietly as Dean made a big show of walking slowly down the aisle in Cas and I's direction. He flung his books under his desk, gave me a large, exaggerated wink and leaned back in his chair. This was going to be worse than the time we got seated next to the kid who kept chewing gum with his mouth open. At least that guy ignored us.

"Now onto our group project. I'm going to give each of you an object and you will work in groups to figure out a way to market it. I expect a full report and diagram by Friday." Mr. Crowley said, walking around the room with a box of random items. He handed a running shoe to me, a shamrock hat to Cas, and a pair of sunglasses to Dean. "Now, will be in your group so I expect you to keep him in line."

"Yes, sir." Cas and I said in unison while Dean stuck the sunglasses on his face and propped his legs up on his desk. He stayed like that for most of the class, doodling on a piece of paper and offering an occasional critique. I could see it was wearing on Cas and his jaw tightened with every new comment thrown his way.

"You know, the hat would sell better if you put it on a naked lady." Dean said looking over Cas' shoulder at his work. Cas opened his mouth to say something and I worried that he was finally gonna snap. Thankfully, the bell rang before that happened and I nearly had to run to catch up as he left the room.

"Cocky asshole thinks he's all that." Cas fumed as we walked to gym class.

"Don't let it eat you, he thrives off of the reactions he gets." I said sagely, hoping my Chicken Soup for the Soul advice would sound wise. Cas just shook his head as we parted ways to the locker room. I didn't get a chance to meet up with him again until lunch. We always reconvened at our usual table with the usual group; Our little band of misfits. I never quite understood how we had all become friends, we just sort of gravitated to one another and stuck out the hell hole that was high school together.

"Hiiiii." I said unenthusiastically, taking my usual spot in between Cas and Charlie.

"What's up with you two today? Cas looks like someone stole lunch his money and you look like someone just forced you to watch them eat your childhood pet." Meg Masters said from her seat at the head of the table. Out of everyone who ate lunch with us, it had astounded me the most when Meg had joined our table. A tough girl on the exterior, she didn't look like she belonged with the rest of us. In truth though, she had a strange love of old movies and a unicorn collection so big, she literally had a storage locker to store it all.

"Oh nothing, we were just once again reminded that assholes exist in every corner of the world. Especially if their name is Dean Winchester." I replied, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"You should've seen him in Gym." Kevin Tran said, scarcely looking up from his DS. Genius #1 of our group, Kevin was a sophomore like Cas and I but was mostly enrolled in AP senior classes. He was fun to hang out with but also extremely useful in helping with calculus homework.

"What did he do?" Anna Novak, a freshman and Cas' little sister piped in. A recently diagnosed schizophrenic, she claimed angels talked to her on a daily basis. Her all around sweetness and vulnerability made me feel extra protective over her.

"I got partnered up with him in wrestling and he made damn sure to make it as painful for me as possible. Kept "accidentally" kicking me in the stomach." Cas said pushing his kale salad across his plate with his fork.

"Want me to hack into his police records and create a warrant for his arrest? Manslaughter? Trafficking? Your choice." Charlie Bradbury added in from next to me. Genius #2 of our group, Charlie's favourite thing to do was hacking into any and every website possible. The higher the security, the better as she saw it.

"Thanks for the support but I think I'll just fantasize the many ways he can fall off a cliff." Cas jokingly cast a dreamy look on his face.

"Sounds kinky."

"Meg! Ugh, speak of the devil." Cas jerked his thumb over his shoulder as Dean and his friends took a seat at the table behind ours. I recognized most of the people with him; Benny Lafitte, Sam Winchester, Adam Milligan, Becky Rosen, Ash and Jo Harvelle, Garth Fitzgerald and a girl I only vaguely remembered as Ruby. Overall not a bad group of people but I already felt my respect for them dropping the longer they sat with him.

"Dweeb keeps looking over at us!" Charlie said, shaking her head.

"Probably because literally all of us are staring at him." Kevin pointed out and we all hastily returned our gazes to each other.

"Well at least we only have to deal with him for a year." Meg said leaning back in her chair. We continued our barrage of hate until the bell rang again and we all parted ways. I headed off to Chemistry while Cas went to Religious Studies. I took my usual seat next to Sam and was surprised to see him sporting a rather nasty looking black eye.

"Holy crap! What happened?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. Sam immediately blushed a deep red and I felt bad for pointing it out.

"It's nothing...just some kid thought he was being funny. My brother took care of him, it's no big deal." He smiled slightly at the though and I remembered the guy Dean had been beating up and everything suddenly made sense. Before I could ask him anything else, Ms. Abaddon walked into the room to start class. It actually ended up being a lot of fun partnered up with Sam. We almost blew up a beaker and I spent the rest of the class crying from laughing so hard while he attempted to contain the bright green frothy mess that spilled over the top of it. We both agreed to check the measurements more carefully next time as we went our separate ways at the end of class. I was still wiping tears from my eyes as I put my books away in my locker and waited for Cas. If he had been mad before, he was even worse now. I could almost see the black storm clouds above his head as he slung his bag over his shoulder and we headed outside. We walked in silence for most of the way to his house, I knew he needed to calm down a bit before I could safely ask him anything.

"That assbutt is in my goddamn religion class. The one place I thought I could avoid him!" He fumed finally as we took the back alley shortcut to his house.

"Assbutt? That's a new insult for you. Did he even say anything to you?"

"No...He slept the whole time but that's not the point. The point is he goes around acting like he's run the place, thinking he can just pester anyone he wants. I bet the kid from this morning isn't feeling too hot right now.." I thought about mentioning what Sam had said but realized it probably wouldn't help Cas' mood so I just kept my mouth shut as he unlocked his front door and we walked into his kitchen, depositing our bags on the pile that was already formed in the front entrance.

"Hey kiddos! How was school?" Cas' dad, Chuck, said from the sink where he was washing dishes. Cas' mom had been killed in a car accident when he was a child and I had copious amounts of respect for his dad for managing the household as well as he did.

"Hi Dad!" Both Cas and I replied. Cas and I were both close to each other's sets of parents and they had learned to expect either both of us or neither of us come dinner time. If we weren't at one's house, we were at the other's.

"Can you two set the table, please? Dinner's almost ready and the others should be home soon.." Chuck pointed to the clean stack of plates behind him and Cas grabbed them all while I picked up a handful of cutlery. We went into the dining room where Anna was already seated, doing her homework.

"So, did you beat him up?" Anna said, moving her textbook out of the way so Cas could put a plate down on her placemat.

"Beat who up?" Cas asked doing a quick count of the plates he had already put down.

"Dean Winchester! You were so mad at him I thought you would've thrown in a few punches when you had the chance."

"Please! Dean would probably have kicked Cas' ass in a heart beat." I snorted.

"Who's gonna kick Cas' ass?" Cas' brother Gabriel said from the front entrance.

"I don't really think it's a matter of 'who'. Anyone could kick Cas' ass." His other brother Uriel replied.

"Language, you two! Now wash up for dinner. Where's Michael and Lucifer?" Cas' oldest brothers were both in college.

"I dunno, probably smoking a joint in the alley, they'll be here soon..." Gabe said taking a seat at the table. We were all seated and eating by the time they showed up and I could already sense one of the familiar dinner conversations starting.

"Why are you two so late?" Chuck waved a forkful of chicken in Michael's direction.

"My classes run a bit later this semester." Michael said shrugging as he shoveled potatoes onto his plate.

"Drugs, dad. We were doing copious amounts of drugs." Lucifer said nonchalantly.

"Lucifer Novak! I do not want to here that kind of talk from you in front of your younger siblings."

"Oh c'mon dad, it's not like they're that impressionable."

"I dunno, Cas is apparently going to get his ass kicked in the near future." Gabe added in.

"Really? by who?" Everyone was suddenly zoned in on Cas.

"Dean Winchester!" Anna said loudly.

"Dean Winchester? How'd you find that out, Anna? Did the angels tell you? By the way, ask them what the weather forecast is gonna be like tomorrow, I wanna know if I can wear shorts or not..."

"GABRIEL! Be nice to your sister! I like that name though...I should use it in my next novel...Dean Winchester..." Chuck was an author and a not so successful one at that. He had gained a small cult following though, and it was enough to keep them living comfortably.

"What's your next novel gonna be about?" I asked curiously

"I'm thinking it will involve two brothers who spend their life on the road hunting things and saving people. It'll be their family business."

"Sounds kinda lame, dad. No offense or anything..."

"It's what the people want, Uriel. You laugh but it'll be a hit." The family went back to bickering and Cas and I managed to sneak away from the table with little to no issue. We went to his room and he slammed the door shut behind him before sinking into his bed with a sigh. I giggled and sat on his computer chair, spinning myself around.

"My family is so annoying sometimes..." Cas' voice was muffled by his pillow.

"I think they're great. I love when we eat dinner at your house. My house is so quiet and boring most of the time."

"Really? And that's what I like about it. At least we can hear ourselves think."

"Oh and you're not gonna like this but I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning...I'll be back for lunch but you're gonna have to suffer through Business management on your own." I watched as his face fell. "Sorry, but you'll survive..."

"Ugh! Doubtful! Way to ruin my day, Baby! Quick, turn on gears so I can get my mind off of my death sentence tomorrow." I laughed at his overly dramatic expression and set up his XBox console so we could play some videogames for a while. We only played for a few minutes before Chuck poked his head in and invited us to play a game of Risk which went on until well past 10 pm.

"Well, I should probably head home, I guess." I sighed as Lucifer captured my last piece of land from me.

"Night, Baby! Safe walk home!"

"Dont get hit by a car!"

"Or murdered!"

"Hope you brought your pepper spray!"

"Anna can lend you one of her angels to protect you!"

"Gabe! That's not funny. See you in school tomorrow!" I chuckled and waved to the group before walking to the door. Cas followed me and gave me a big hug before I left.

"You could stay, you know." He said while still holding on to to me.

"I would but I have my dentist appointment tomorrow, remember?" I laughed again as he groaned.

"Right, thanks for reminding me. See you at lunch!" He let go and shut the door behind me as I left. As I headed back into the alley, a sickening feeling entered the pit of my stomach and I wanted nothing more than for Cas to hug me again.

It had been two years, six months, and four days since I had fallen in love with him and I still had no idea how I was going to tell him that.


	2. Chapter 2

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies...

Enjoy~

* * *

"Where's Cas?" I scanned the lunch table even though I knew he wasn't going to be sitting anywhere else.

"I dunno, maybe he's staying late in class?" Charlie shrugged although most of her focus was directed to hacking into tumblr servers.

"I hardly doubt he would want to stay late, he'd be stuck with Dean Winchester for more time and after yesterday I don't think he'd want that...Maybe he's in trouble?" I briefly contemplated shouting out his name in the crowded lunchroom.

"Jesus Christ, calm down! I'm sure he's fine, honestly the two of you can't be apart for longer than like two hours without one of you spazzing out. Some days I think about just surgically attaching you at the hip and getting it over with." Meg rolled her eyes and took a swig of her juice. "Besides, I can see him right now, you can untwist your panties." I followed to where she was pointing and sure enough Cas was already headed towards us, looking rather sheepish.

"Hi, sorry about the wait. Had to talk to Dean about the business project." I ignored Meg's _I told you so_ look.

"Talking to Dean Winchester? Thought you hated him." Anna pointed out.

"He's not so bad actually...Once you get past the ego, he's alright." Cas blushed faintly and became very interested in his salad. "We're gonna finish working on his half of the project tonight at his house."

"Awww, Cassie has a boyfriend!" Meg sang fluttering her eyelashes. Cas, who had just taken a swig of water, promptly started choking on it and spat most of it across the table.

"Thanks, Cas. That was truly disgusting." Kevin groaned as he wiped water droplets off his phone screen.

"I was just kidding, you know..." Meg said giving Cas an annoyed look.

"Yeah, hilarious. I'm gonna head to Religion early. Have some questions for the teacher." Cas was gone before any of us could respond.

"What's his deal?" Charlie said looking at me as if it was my fault. I shrugged in response and excused myself to go to the bathroom. I headed out the front doors and walked over to Cas' and I's meeting spot. We had come up with the idea in our freshman year as a place to go if we needed to speak to one another in private during the day. It had become sort of a sanctuary for the two of us and we always knew where to look when the other had gone missing; Cas found me there on the day my grandma was diagnosed with cancer and I found him there on the anniversary of his mother's death. It was situated just beyond the school's borders, in a sort of treed off area. A few fallen trees had created a sort of alcove in it that wasn't too bad to sit in if you didn't mind the bugs.

As I approached the first set of trees, muffled laughter reached my ears. Frowning slightly, I crouched down and shuffled forward slightly, giving me a view of the clearing but enough cover that I wouldn't be seen. Dean was sitting on top of the alcove laughing at something Cas was saying. Cas himself, was sitting just beneath him and looked awed that Dean found him funny. Feeling anger rise in my chest, I snuck back out as quietly as I could and headed back to the school just in time for the bell to ring. A dark cloud seemed to hang over my head for the rest of the day and I almost felt bad for anyone who had to be near me. Poor Sam looked entirely bewildered as to why I was giving him the cold shoulder and there was no mistaking the look of hurt in Cas' eyes as I ignored him at the lockers. I felt slight satisfaction at the latter's reaction which didn't help matters at all. Cas had no right in showing Dean _our _spot and I wanted him to suffer for it. Not that he actually knew what he did wrong. I continuously ignored his texts throughout the rest of that night and contemplated just shutting my phone off when it gave a different sounding beep.

**Cas asked me to ask you why you're not answering his texts.**

**Did you die or something?**

**- Meg**

I couldn't help but smile at the text. I thought for a minute before replying.

**Nooo, but I don't want to talk to him right now either.**

**Too complicated.**

I didn't have to wait long for a response.

**I told him you were on your period.**

**You're welcome.**

**-Meg**

I shook my head and threw my phone onto my bedside table where it thankfully stayed quiet for the rest of the night. I awoke the next morning and felt stupid for the way I had acted the day before. It was childish for me to be upset over Cas showing someone else a pile of dead trees. It hadn't even been ours to begin with, we had pilfered the area from a group of stoners who had either dropped out or graduated. I planned on apologizing to him on our walk to school but when he didn't show up, I felt some of my previous annoyances return. Those quickly changed into worry as he still wasn't at the lockers before class started and I cursed myself for forgetting my phone that day. I walked to business by myself and as I took my seat, Dean raised his eyebrows at me.

"Where's Cas."

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not his mother." I hissed at him, trying to keep my voice low. One of the advantages of being in the back row was that you could talk throughout class as long as you were quiet about it.

"I dunno, you're kind of famed for being inseparable. I assumed you would've telepathically connected to him this morning." Dean matched my volume and tone.

"He was with you last night!"

"It's not like he stayed over!" We continued on bickering until well after the bell had rang and class had begun. After half the class had passed, Cas finally showed up, looking exhausted and rather haggard as he gave Mr. Crowley a late slip and took his seat between Dean and I.

"Slept through my alarm this morning." He explained in response to Dean and I's identical accusing looks.

"That's new for you. " I frowned at him.

"Apparently you can't hold your liquor as well as I thought-OW!"Dean yelped as I reached behind Cas' desk to smack him on the head.

"Is there a problem back there?" Mr. Crowley asked from the front of the class.

"No, sir." The three of us replied in unison. He stared at us suspiciously for a few moments before resuming the lecture.

"what was that for?" Dean hissed, rubbing the back of his head.

"For being an asshole." I replied.

"I think she likes me." Dean said to Cas and I gave him the finger. The rest of the class was wasted on the three of us bickering over exactly how big of an asshole Dean was. Thankfully Cas and I's minor issue was all but forgotten as the debate carried over on the way to gym class. As I left the two of them to enter the change room, I had to grudgingly admit to myself that Cas had been right about Dean being not so bad. The tough guy act seemed less obnoxious on Dean than it did on most other guys. He knew how to work it.

Cas and Dean were still in heated discussion as the three of us walked to the lunchroom together. Cas looked rather crestfallen when Dean went off to join his own table instead of ours and I couldn't help but feel a slight bit disappointed as well. Normalcy had returned and I continued through the rest of the day in good spirits. Sam seemed particularly relieved that I was talking to him again.

"I thought I'd said something that made you mad." He admitted shyly, trying to hide his reddening face. My heart went out to him. He really was a nice guy and I felt bad for having been a jerk to him. My good mood was brought down a few pegs at the last bell when Cas told me that he and Dean still had work to finish and therefore wouldn't be able to hang out again. I chided myself for wanting to cry as I bundled up against the cold fall air and headed back to my house alone again. Tears began to well up in my eyes against my will as I watched Cas get into the backseat of Dean's Impala. I fought them back as I began my walk but didn't get very far before the Impala pulled up beside me and the passenger window rolled down.  
Sam waved at me from the passenger seat as Dean leaned across him to speak.

"You live right by Cas, right?"

"Yeahhh..."

"Then get in, it's cold out." I bit back a snarky remark and climbed in the backseat beside Cas. I had learned not to turn down a free ride.

"You didn't have to do this, I really appreciate it." I said politely as I put my seatbelt on.

"It's on the way to Sam and I's motel so it's not a big deal. Better than having you freeze out there. You weren't crying just then, were you?" Dean glanced at me through the rearview mirror with a concerned look on his face.

"It was just the wind making my eyes water." It wasn't entirely a lie.

"Uhuh, I bet you were just upset that you didn't get a chance to say goodbye to me before you left." Sam and Cas both snickered at this comment and I rolled my eyes.

"Oh you know it, I'm secretly in love with you and the thought of not getting a final glimpse of your shining face would've just ruined my whole year." I replied sarcastically and Sam laughed harder.

"Well then, Let me make it up to you by taking you out for dinner on Saturday." Dean smirked and the laughter in the car died abruptly.

"Umm, pardon?"

"Dinner. Saturday. You and me. What do you say?" I felt a wave of anxiety come over me. When it came to boys and dating, I wasn't exactly a natural.

"Ummmm, okay...Sure, I guess." I squeaked out an answer, not entirely sure of what I was saying.

"Great, pick you up at 5 then. Which house is yours?"

"The blue one with the big rock out front and the station wagon in the driveway." I said automatically and I couldn't help but notice how quiet the car had gotten.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow then!" I said as I hopped out of the car almost as soon as Dean had pulled into my driveway. Dean winked at me, Sam gave a small smile, but Cas' face remained impassive as he murmured out a quiet "bye.." Before turning away to look out the window closest to him. I hurried to my front door and grabbed my keys from my pocket, dropping them twice in the process, before unlocking it and waving to Dean once more as he watched me go in. I shut the door behind me before sliding to the floor feeling overwhelmed. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had made a huge mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies!

Reviews are always appreciated~

* * *

"Cas! I asked you to help me pick out an outfit not beat your high score on Tetris!" I yelled at him from my closet as I rifled through yet another pile of sweaters and jeans.

"I'm no good with this kind of stuff. I thought you'd have figured this out by now."

"What do you think Anna?" I poked my head out the door but received no response from her as she lay sprawled out on the floor. "Earth to Anna! Hello?"

"They've been messing around with the dosages of her meds. She's a little out of it right now. Probably won't be much help." Cas said barely glancing up from his phone.

"Well neither of you are any help at all!" The doorbell chimed loudly as I spoke. "Thank God for Charlie! Someone with some decent taste." Casting a look of disdain over at Cas, I hurried to answer it.

"You've been busy." Charlie said eyeing the mass of clothes on the floor as we walked back into my bedroom. She made quick work of sorting through the pile and within minutes had chosen out a dark pair of jeans, a cream coloured tank top and a moss green cardigan for me to wear.

"You think this will be alright? It's not too casual or anything?" I fretted as I examined the outfit in my mirror.

"Chill, lady. You look fine. This is Dean Winchester we're talking about, you'll be lucky if he shows up in a clean shirt." Her words did little calm me down. T-minus half an hour to my date with Dean and I couldn't fight off the butterflies that I'd been feeling all day.

"Is it too late for me to text him saying I've suddenly become horribly ill and won't be able to go?"

"Yes, now sit down so I can do your hair." Charlie shoved me rather roughly into the chair in front of my vanity. "Cas, do something to keep her mind off her date, would you?"

"I'm in no way a part of this." Cas wasn't lying when he said it. For the rest of the week following Dean asking me out, he had been rather cool towards me and I had begun to worry that was mad at me for saying yes. Thankfully, he snapped out of whatever mood he had been in and had "agreed" to help me pick out an outfit. I found myself unable to keep still and received more than one swats to the head via hairbrush as Charlie curled my hair. I even had to beg her to do my makeup for me because my hand was shaking too badly to put my eyeliner on straight.

"Just gotta smudge the line a little...and there! You're done." Charlie stepped back to admire her handiwork.

"You look so pretty, Baby!" Anna announced suddenly from beneath a hoodie that had been thrown over her on accident.

"Yeah, really nice." Cas added vaguely without taking his eyes off his game.

"I need better friends, ones that-" The doorbell interrupted my speech again. "Oh shit, he's here! What do I do?"

"Take a deep breath, answer the door and go on your date! Don't forget your purse, and I expect a text when you get home!" Charlie ushered me towards the front hallway.

"Wait, you guys are just gonna stay here then? That's a little weird." I quickly shoved on a pair of black ankle boots.

"No, idiot. I'll take Cas and Anna home after you've left. Dean might just find it weird if a whole parade of us leave the house." She ducked back into my room as I took a shaky breath and opened the front door. Dean stood behind it looking not unattractive in a pair of blue jeans and a button up black shirt.

"Took you long enough, I was worried you'd ditched." He smiled at me and stepped off to the side as I closed the door behind me. "I wouldn't have blamed you if you did."

"Ha, Ha, I just had to finish getting ready."

"You look very nice by the way. That colour of green is stunning on you." He held the passenger door to his car open for me.

"You don't look so bad yourself." I said as I climbed in, trying to hide my very red face.

"Yeahhh, Sammy made me wear the shirt, told me I needed to put in some sort of effort." Dean admitted after he had gotten into the driver's seat. He started up the car and the opening chords to Over The Hills And Far Away filtered through the radio. I found myself humming along to it as we drove.

"You know, I never would've pegged you as a Zeppelin fan." Dean said breaking the silence.

"I like quite a few of the classics. My dad instilled a strong love of Rock and Roll into me."

"Same here." Dean said laughing. "I could swear he almost cried the day Sam told him that he didn't like CCR."

"Are you close to your dad?" I asked curiously and immediately regretted it as his smile faltered slightly. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry."

"It's alright. I don't hate him but we have our differences. He wasn't exactly always there for me and Sammy when we were growing up." We lapsed into a slightly uncomfortable silence and I struggled to think of something to say.

"I guess I should tell you where we're going." Dean broke the silence once more, something I was grateful for as my mind had gone blank on interesting topics.

"Where are we going?"

"A little diner just outside of town. Sammy and I go there a lot, they have the best burgers and the atmosphere is great. They also only play classic rock which is a plus. After that, I wanna show you something cool." He smiled mischievously and I must've looked scared or something because his eyes got wide and he quickly back pedaled. " Don't worry it's nothing creepy, I'm not gonna try to take advantage of you or anything. It's just a cool little place that I think you'd like."

I couldn't deny the relief I felt at his words. I _had_ been concerned about what exactly he was going to show me. I felt less anxious as we went into the diner, we had gotten on the subject of music and seemed to have no limit on things to say about it. Over our meal, he was right about the burgers being the best around, we got back on the subject of family. He seemed strangely fascinated by how normal my life had been. I, in turn, was more interested in his life on the road. From what I understood, his family had never really stayed in one place for very long after his mom had passed away. Dean seemed unperturbed by it but I thought there was something sad about the notion of never really having a home.

"My car is my home. Has everything I need, right inside it." He said contentedly as he waved away my offer to split the check. Laying down more than enough money for the meal and a tip, he motioned for us to leave and I followed him out the door. It had gotten quite dark outside and the temperature had dropped significantly.

"Cold?" Dean asked as he held the car door open for me again.

"A little." I should've worn something warmer than a cardigan to a date in the middle of autumn. After he got in, he reached into his back seat and fished a leather jacket off the floor.

"Wear this, you're gonna need it where we're going." He handed it to me and I gratefully pulled it around my shoulders. It held the faint scent of his aftershave I noted rather randomly.

"Aren't you gonna be cold?" I asked and he snorted in response.

"Thanks for the concern but I think I'll be alright." He took us farther out of town and I felt my previous worries resurface. He could've been lying when he said he wasn't gonna do anything creepy. After twenty minutes of driving down the highway, he pulled off suddenly down a small gravel road and I felt my hand unconsciously start sliding towards the door handle. Before I could think of how to properly tuck and roll, a large clearing had opened up and he stopped the car right in the middle of it. He jumped out and I hesitated to follow until he looked rather impatient at my lagging. I got out slowly, trying to figure out the best path for me to run down if I needed a quick escape; unfortunately for me, there was really no obvious way out without being seen.

"Should be dark enough! Climb up on the hood, trust me, it's a better view when you can lay back." Dean hadn't noticed my trepidation and had already hopped up on the hood in one fluid, practiced motion. I took his proffered hand and copied his way of sitting, back flat against the windshield but angled up enough to see the sky. I could see why he thought this place was special, away from the city lights, the stars shone more brilliantly in the sky than I had ever seen before.

"It's so beautiful." I said in a hushed voice.

"I thought you'd like it. Hang on a sec, this'll make it better." He slid off the hood and got in the front seat again. I turned to see what he was doing and he waved cheekily at me as he fiddled with the radio. He made sure the volume was turned up just loud enough to be background noise before he took his seat beside me again.

"Lynyrd Skynyrd? How cliche." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Hey! I worked hard on perfect the perfect playlist for this kind of thing." I had to hand it to him, it did suit the mood. We fell into a comfortable silence as we just watched the stars for what seemed like hours. After awhile I couldn't ignore how cold it was beginning to get and not even Dean's jacket could help. Thankfully, he noticed my discomfort and said he'd take me back home. The silence lasted on the drive back but it was nowhere near as awkward as it had been at the start of the date. I found it odd that I could be this comfortable around a guy who wasn't Cas and I was almost sorry for the night to be over as he pulled back into my driveway.

"I'll walk you to your door." He looked like an over eager puppy.

"Oh you're too kind, good sir." I laughed as I got out. The sight of Charlie's car still in the driveway made me groan however.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked.

"yeah, fine, the company just stayed longer than expected." He looked confused but didn't question it as we walked up the porch steps.

"I had a really good time tonight." He said as we hesitated on the doorstep. "We should do it again some time."

"I'd like that." I said as I handed him back his coat. It surprised me that I wasn't lying. Before I could say anything else, he bent down swiftly and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I could only stand in a stunned sort of silence as he pulled away and looked quite embarrassed.

"I guess I'll see you at school then." He rubbed the backed of his head and avoided eye contact.

"Bye Dean." I unlocked my front door and he headed back to his car. Blushing again, I walked into my room to find Cas, Charlie and Anna had created a sort of blanket fort which included what must've been every pillow in my house.

"Busy night?" I tossed my purse onto the only uncovered floor space left.

"We had to do something to occupy our time. It was small but you took so long it just kept getting bigger. Your mom was very helpful in gathering the supplies we needed." Anna explained looking slightly more herself than she had in the afternoon.

"Sorry, he just took me star gazing and we lost track of time."

"Ooooh, romantic! Cas, if you need to pick up a girl, take a leaf out of Dean's book. Did he kiss you? I need details." Charlie pulled me into the fort and I landed squarely on Cas' lap.

"Oof! Sorry, Cas. Ummm he did, he also took me to this really cool diner, we should go sometime." I pulled myself off of Cas and tried to catch his eye to apologize but he looked away. I ignored the gesture and began to get ready for bed as I recounted the story to Anna and Charlie who seemed more than enthused with how the evening had gone.

"Are you gonna see him again?" Anna asked as we all settled down to sleep.

"I think so. I'd like to and he said he wanted to." I replied, noting that Cas had situated himself as far away from me as he could. As the other two fell asleep, I knew he was still awake and I could all but feel how angry he was. I began to wonder if I would be forced to choose between my relationship Dean or my friendship with Cas in the near future and how in the hell I was supposed to do so while causing the least amount of damage possible. As I drifted off to sleep I came to the realization that perhaps my feelings for Cas weren't entirely unrequited.


	4. Chapter 4

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies

Thanks for the reviews and more are always appreciated,

Enjoy :)

* * *

"Ah! My two babies, side by side. What a sight." Dean walked up to where I was waiting by his car and gave me a hug.

"I still find it creepy that you named your car after me." I said pushing him away and grabbing his keys to unlock the door.

"I didn't! I told you, I already had the name picked out long before I met you, I just didn't start using it until recently." He snatched his keys back and walked over to his side of the car. I rolled my eyes and followed suit.

"What took you so long anyways? It's freezing outside and I had to wait for like fifteen minutes. I contemplated breaking a window and hot wiring the car to warm up."

"Cas and I had to finish up homework for Religion. Wanted to get it done so I didn't have to do it on the weekend." The bromance between Dean and Cas both amused me and made me slightly envious. Cas still wasn't acting like himself around me and it was getting highly frustrating.

"Since when do you care about homework?" I said peevishly leaning back in the seat.

"Someone's sassy today. What's got you in a huff?"

"I'm just nervous..." I admitted and Dean took a hold of my hand.

"It'll be fine, they'll like you, I promise." He was taking me to meet his family and nervous was an exact understatement of how I was feeling. Never having really done the boyfriend thing before, the meeting the parents part was entirely new territory for me. I still found it odd to call Dean my boyfriend even though we had been going out for a month.

There was a sudden loud bang as Sam threw the door open, jumped into the back seat and slammed it behind him.

"Hey, easy there! This car is worth more than your life! What took you so long anyways?" Dean grumbled as he drove out of the school parking lot. I made sure to glare at him for the last bit.

"Sorry, I was avoiding Becky, she had me cornered so I had to take refuge in the boy's bathroom." Sam sounded out of breath and I felt bad for him. Becky had become a little too taken with the poor boy.

"Got yourself a a stalker already! Just think of how set you'll be for college." Dean chuckled.

"Jerk! Is dad meeting us at Bobby's place?"

"I'm assuming so. If he actually decides to show up." Dean looked worried and I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. I had come to a better understanding of the Winchester dynamic and it wouldn't be the first time the boys' father was a no show. The rest of the drive to their uncle's place was filled with loud bickering as the two of them bickered over radio stations and I opted to leave my opinion out of the matter. We pulled up to a rather rustic looking house in the middle of a large junkyard.

"Family Business?" I asked pointing to the large "Singer Salvage Yard" sign.

"More of a hobby." Dean said, his mouth twitching slightly.

"What's so funny?"

"Inside joke, let's get inside. Bobby's waiting." He jerked his head in the direction of the house and got out, closely followed by Sam and I. We made our way up the porch steps and straight into the house.

"Bobby? We're here, there'd better be beer in the fridge!" Dean yelled as he strode into the house.

"You're too young to be drinkin'." A man said gruffly as he walked out of the kitchen wiping his hands on a dish towel.

"You say that every time and I never listen!" Dean said walking right past him and straight for the fridge. "Don't tell me you've been cooking again."

"What's wrong with my cookin'? I make the best damn chili you've ever tasted, so watch your mouth, boy! And aren't you going to introduce me to your lovely young lady here?"

"Bobby meet Baby, Baby this is my uncle Bobby." Dean said as he rooted through the fridge.

"It's nice to meet you, sir." I said putting my hand out for him to shake. Instead Bobby pulled me in for a bear hug.

"The pleasure's all mine. You ain't been here five seconds and I can already tell you're the best girlfriend Dean has ever had. And that's saying something since he's been dating since before he was out of diapers." He exclaimed as he finally stopped squeezing all the air out of my lungs.

"How can you tell?" I gasped, massaging my ribs.

"Because you've got manners, something the good majority of the others were lacking. Now don't be shy, make yourself at home, Can I grab you a soda? I have a feeling you're not much into the kind of skunk piss that Dean likes."

"Not particularly, that would be great thanks!" I said as I sat down on the couch in the sitting room. It happened to be the one clear space in the entire house; every other surface was covered in old books, papers and jars full of unidentifiable substances. Sam took a seat next to me and caught the bottle that Dean threw at him as he came to join us.

"Now is your dad coming or not? The chili will be ready soon and I don't wanna overcook it." Bobby asked handed me a glass of coke.

"He said he was coming so I assume so. But he did mention he was having trouble with a wer- I mean- a client so he might be a bit late." Dean explained as he popped the caps off of his and Sam's beers with his ring.

"Now that's a load of crap. Probably just an excuse he can use to get out of coming to dinner. There haven't been any sightings...Clients in the area lately so I don't know what he's chasing after." Bobby said as he walked back in the kitchen to stir the large pot on the stove. It wasn't hard to see they were trying to hide something from me.

"What does your dad do again?" I asked Dean.

"Mechanic, he gets work where he can so he travels a lot for his job." Sam jumped in quickly and both Dean and Bobby shot him grateful looks.

"Yeah, Fixing brake lines, changing tires..." Dean began

"The family business!" Sam finished for him and they both broke out into identical wide grins before clanking their beer bottles together.

"You guys are so weird.." I sighed leaning back into the couch. A pair of headlights shone through the window, casting shadows along the wall.

"He's here." Sam said as the smiles slid off the boys' faces. There was the sound of boots crunching up the gravel driveway before the door swung open to reveal a haggard looking man.

"I'm here! Hope I'm not late." He said taking off his heavy plaid coat.

"No, just in time, chili's done." Bobby said walking into the room and taking his coat from him. " want a beer?"

"Thanks," The man replied before looking over in our direction. "How's it going boys?" The effect on Sam and Dean was immediate. I could almost hear their spines crack as they immediately straightened out of their slouched postures.

"Fine, sir." They chorused.

"Good to hear, and you must be Baby! Dean's told me so much about you, I'm John by the way." He walked over to the couch and held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Winchester." I leaped out of my seat and shook it. His hand was dry and extremely calloused.

"Call me 'John', no need to be formal." He gave me a tired smile. "I hope my boy's been treating you alright?"

"Ehhh, could be worse!" I said shooting Dean a mischievous smile and he glowered at me in return. John gave a hearty laugh as he released my hand and went to get his beer from Bobby.

"Don't be afraid to kick his ass if he causes you any trouble!" He called over his shoulder.

"Oh trust me, I won't." I chuckled. Within a short while, Bobby had us all seated around the kitchen table with heaping portions of chili and fresh bread in front of us. He was right, it was the best I'd ever tasted.

"So what's new with school? Did you do well on that math test, Sam? Did you do your homework for once, Dean?" Bobby asked about halfway through the meal.

"Dean got in a fight again last week." Sam said conversationally, taking a large bite of bread.

"Idjit, getting into fights is no way to solve problems...Did you at least win?" Bobby said shaking his head.

"'Course I did. The kid couldn't even throw a punch to save his life. All I had to do was flick him and he fell over." Dean replied through a mouthful of chili. "On a more important note, I made the grad list."

"You did?" Both John and Bobby looked shocked by this news.

"Yeah, I just can't do any worse in any of my classes and they'll let me graduate." Dean leaned back in his chair smugly.

"And then off to being a fry cook at McDonald's for the rest of your life." Sam muttered under his breath.

"Sam!" John scolded before turning to his eldest son. "I'm proud of you, Dean, you've done well."

"What about you, Missy? You have a couple years yet, got anything planned out for what you're gonna do after?" Bobby asked me.

"Umm, I'm for sure going to college, I just haven't quite figured out what I want to do yet. I've been working for the past couple summers to save up though." My words seemed to receive approval from both of the older men as they nodded in acknowledgement.

"Smart girl, you'll go far in life. You could learn a thing or two from her, Dean." Bobby said jabbing a finger in his direction. He carried on with a rant about "kids these days" and their "over-reliance on technology to get by." This somehow morphed into a conversation about sports and cars and I had my first experience with the kind of stereotypical guy talk I though only existed in movies. This went on for quite awhile until the subject of Dean's past girlfriend's came up. It was a topic I found much more enjoyable and Bobby was in the middle of a story about a time went on a date with a girl who ended up being part of an ultra-religious cult when Dean abruptly stood up and announced that we were leaving before he got tempted into anymore beer and therefore wouldn't be able to drive. John and Bobby waited for us by the door as we put our coats on.

"You boys all prepared to leave tomorrow? I expect an early start." John said giving Sam and Dean pointed looks.

"Yes, sir." They replied looking like little kids as they shuffled their feet.

"Good. It was very nice meeting you, Baby. I hope I'll get the chance to see you again soon." John's stern glare turned into a warm smile as he shook my hand once more.

"If you ever need anything, don't be afraid to give me a shout. You're family now, kiddo." Bobby said giving me another hug. "And you two, you could put in the effort to visit me more than when I ask you to."

"We will, Bobby. I promise." Dean said giving the man a hug.

"Like hell you will. Drive safe, don't do anything stupid!" Bobby said ushering us out the door. I waited until we were in the car again before I rounded on Dean.

"Where are you going tomorrow?"

"My dad's taking Sam and I on a trip." He said casually.

"For how long?" I was expecting a couple of days, or a week at most.

"Probably around a month, give or take a couple weeks."

"A month? What about school? And when were you gonna tell me this?" I choked out.

"When it came up in conversation. Like now." He glanced over at me. "Don't worry, I've already talked to my teachers and all that. I have more than enough homework to ignore while we're gone."

"You Winchesters are something else, that's for sure." I sighed and closed my eyes, strangely exhausted by the day's events. It felt like only seconds later that Dean was shaking my shoulder.

"Wake up, sleepy head. We're at your house. I swear, both you and Sam are secret old people at heart. You can't even manage to stay awake past midnight on a Friday." He said smirking as he looked over at his brother who was sprawled out in the backseat.

"Very funny." I yawned. "See you in a month, I guess."

"Don't be that way, I'll bring you back something nice." He leaned over to give me a kiss.

"Fine, but stay out of trouble." I said as I got out. "And tell Sam I said 'bye' when he wakes up."

"Will do...Tell Cas I'm leaving, would you?"

"You didn't tell him?" I said incredulously. Dean didn't answer and instead just drove off, leaving me standing in the driveway. I headed back inside and sent Cas a quick text before jumping in the shower. He still hadn't replied by the time I got out so I got into bed but no more than five minutes after I had shut the light off, there was knock on my window. I peered out it to see Cas standing outside, his hair ruffled and trench coat pulled loosely over his pajamas. He looked rather upset.

"It's been awhile since you've used the window." I said as I opened it up and stood aside so he could climb through it.

"So Dean's gone? Where? How long?" He didn't even bother to answer my question.

"I dunno, and he said about a month. Not that I'm not happy to see you, but you could've just answered my text." I said slumping against my pillows. He didn't say anything, just sat with his chin on his knees as he traced patterns into my bedspread.

"Why didn't he tell me himself?" He finally spoke after a few minutes, but I could tell it was a question directed more towards himself than to me.

"I don't know, Cas. I had to force it out of him as it was. He wasn't about to tell me either." I answered anyways, trying to prompt more out of him. Instead I received a longer stretch of silence until I was just too tired and frustrated to put up with it anymore.

"What's going on, Cas? You've been acting so weird lately?" Without warning he leaned over and pulled my faces towards his, kissing me for the first time ever. It was something I had been dreaming about and hoping for for ages and yet it felt wrong. A voice in my head screamed at me to just shut up and kiss him but my hands seemed to move on their own will as they reached up to his chest and shoved him back to the opposite end of the bed.

"Cas, what was that for?" I hissed at him, trying to keep my voice low enough that my parents wouldn't hear. He put his head in his hands and his body began to shake as it was wracked with sobs. I could count on one hand the number of times I had seen him cry and it always alarmed me when he did.

"I'm so sorry, Baby. I just don't know what to do, I'm so confused." He cried and I could only watch as he fell apart in front of me. At a loss of what else to do, I wrapped my arms around him and tried my best to console him and we stayed that way until long after the sun had begun to rise up over the horizon.


	5. Chapter 5

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies.

Reviews are always appreciated,

I hope you enjoy~

* * *

The quiet buzz of my phone jolted me out of my sleep as quickly as it ever had, and I scrambled to find it on my bedside table. Over the years my body had become attuned to responding to even the most quiet noises late at night due to people like Cas. He had a penchant for calling late at night when something was wrong. Following our conversation the week before, I went to bed each night expecting to be woken up by him at some point. He was more damaged than I could fix but I always tried to at least be there for him. My suspicions were steadily more confirmed as his photo came up on my caller ID and my alarm clock flashed 3 am.  
_This had better be good, Cas._ I thought to myself as I yawned and hit the talk button.

"What is it, Cas?" I said blearily.

"Baby, please. Everyone's gone and she's asking for you, I need your help!" His vow was frantic and low and I could hear alternating sobbing and screaming in the background.

"Cas? Who is it? Is it Anna?" _Oh please don't let it be Anna._

"I need you here now!" There was the sound of breaking glass and the line went dead. It was all I needed to hear. Taking only my phone, I climbed out my bedroom window and sprinted in the direction of Cas' house. I didn't even bother to knock on the door when I reached it, opting to just throw it open and sprint towards the source of the screaming.

"I'm in here!" Cas yelled over the noise from the living room. Stopping at the doorway to catch my breath, I could see him standing in the far corner, surrounded by broken pieces of pottery. Anna lay in the midst of all of it, curled up tightly in a ball with her hands held tightly against her ears screaming as loudly as she could.

"Where's everybody else?" I had to shout more than once to make myself heard.

"Dad's spending the night at his aunt's house. She's sick. The others are just out at various places. Oh Jesus, I just didn't know who else to call. She just flipped and started saying that the angels were yelling at her and she started throwing things..." Cas was entering full on panic mode and I felt myself struggling on the brink of it. I forced myself to stay calm, it would not help the situation if we were all in hysterics.

"BABY! HELP!" Anna screamed, suddenly coherent. I raced over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me but there was no recognition in her eyes, not even a single spark of awareness that let me know she was still in there somewhere. She was too far gone.

"Anna? Anna, sweetie, you have to tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know." I spoke softly, but with enough force to make her listen.

"They're screaming at me, it hurts so bad. They won't stop talking they want me to kill him. Make it stop, MAKE IT STOP!" She shrieked the last part and I threw myself back as she began to furiously lash out and kick her feet. Anna pounded her fists against the glass strewn carpet, creating deep gashes in her already marked up hands.

"Cas, I'm gonna go get my parents car, we have to take her to the hospital." He didn't appear to be listening. "Cas? Did you hear me."

"Yeah! Shit, hurry." He jolted out of whatever trance he had been in and took my place beside Anna, trying his best to keep her calm. Whether or not this was the right thing to do, I didn't know, I just left the house once more, slowing down only when I was back inside my house. Grabbing the keys to my mom's station wagon, I ran to the garage this time and started up the car, grateful that my mom had remembered to plug it in before she went to bed. Pulling into to Cas' driveway, I ran around back to where the door was still open from when I had left. It was deathly quiet and that almost unnerved me more than the screaming had. Back int the living room Cas sat cross-legged on the floor with Anna's limp form draped over his lap. Her chest rose and fell with each shallow breath and Cas' face was impassive as he carefully ran a hand through her hand, smoothing it down. It took both of us all the strength we could muster to carry her into the car. Cas was insistent that we didn't let her feet drag even though she had become pure dead weight and we both struggled immensely. Cas sat in the back with her as I drove, we got about halfway to the hospital when the screaming started again.

After she was admitted, there was nothing to do but wait as the rest of the family trickled in. I had called everyone as Cas received treatment himself. He had received several large lacerations from the struggle with Anna and hadn't noticed until a nurse had pointed it out. Gabe arrived first, he sat down beside me and put his face in his hands. He stayed that way as Chuck came bursting through the hospital doors, his eyes red and puffy, closely followed by Uriel and Lucifer both with grim expressions on their faces. I felt strangely detached from the whole situation.

"I want to see my daughter. Why won't you let me see her?" Chuck was yelling at a scared looking resident. The poor girl probably hadn't been working more than a month and now I doubted she would return sure.

"She's been sedated, sir. You can see her in a little while. They need to make sure she won't react violently again." The girl proceeded to stutter out a number of medical terms that were lost on the group. A self-defense mechanism, most likely. Best way to deal with irate family members is to confuse the hell out of them.

"Was anyone aware she had stopped taking her medication?" Another doctor asked. No one was. This only proceeded to make the situation worse. I found myself mimicking Anna in a way, placing my hands over my ears to block out the sound of Chuck's yelling and sobs, squeezing my eyes tightly shut to avoid seeing the faces of the Novak boys as they all fought to keep from breaking down completely. I couldn't even stand to look at Cas as he stared blankly at a wall, tears pouring silently down his face. I stayed that way for ages until I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I looked up to see my mom standing in front of me, I almost forgot I had called her as well. I automatically held out the car keys to her and she helped pull me to my feet.

"Where are your shoes?" She asked and we both looked down at my bare feet. I shrugged, I hadn't bothered to put them on when the whole ordeal had started. We slipped out of the hospital unnoticed and I expected a lecture as we drove back home.

"I'm not mad at you. You did the right thing getting her to a hospital, you should have woken me or your father up though." Was all she said. In some ways I was relieved and in other ways disappointed. I felt I deserved the discipline. "Sweetheart? Are you okay?"

"I was so scared, mommy. I didn't know what to do, she kept on screaming and I was just so scared." My body began to shake and I felt tears spill over my cheeks as I fought desperately to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. Within seconds, I was sobbing in earnest against the dashboard and my mom pulled over at the nearest gas station and put her arms around me until I had quieted down.

The next two weeks passed in a blur, school lost priority as Cas and I sat with our eyes glued to the clock, waiting for the final bell to ring so we could go visit Anna. We watched as she slowly came back to reality, becoming more and more herself with each passing day. She had no recollection of her breakdown but pressed us for the details that we didn't want to give her. Most nights we stayed until late into the night and it was on one of these nights that I stumbled down to the lobby to see Dean waiting there. I ran to him and he wrapped his arms around me.

"You're back!" I said with my face pressed into his chest.

"Yeah, dad wanted to come back. How's Anna doing?"

"A lot better. They have her on new medication and she's responding really well to it. She's not a 100% better yet but they said they'll probably send her home early than they originally planned because she's doing so well. Cas is still with her right now I think."

"Nope. Here he comes now." I turned my head to see Cas walking down the corridor towards us. Instead of looking happy to see Dean, he looked furious.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He snarled at Dean, not bothering to keep his voice down.

"I came to see how Anna was. Why is that such an issue?" Dean looked about as confused as I felt.

"You shouldn't be here!" Several heads turned in our direction and I felt self conscious about the scene we were causing. Dean apparently did too as he attempted to get handle on the situation.

"Look, let's talk about this outside, we don't need to disturb anyone else." He reached out to put a hand on Cas' shoulder but he swatted it away and stormed and I followed him as he headed towards the parking lot.

"What's wrong, Cas? I haven't done anything to you, why are you so mad at me?" Dean jogged slightly to keep up with him and Cas stopped dead in his tracks.

"What haven't you done since you've been here? You've ruined my life." Cas snapped at Dean. Dean reached out and put his hand on Cas' shoulder again and this time Cas spun around and sent a punch directly at Dean's face. Dean staggered back looking shocked but didn't punch him back. Cas took this opportunity to swing a fist at him again and once more Dean took it full force.

"Cas! Stop it, you're hurting him!" I shrieked as I ran forward to try and grab one of Cas' arms but Dean held me back, still doing nothing to stop Cas' attack.

"Let him be, he has to get it out of his system." Dean spoke calmly and wasn't wrong. Cas started to cry and the force behind his punches lessened with each passing minute. Before long, he had collapsed to the ground and Dean knelt beside him.

"Cas, tell me what's wrong." Dean wiped a trickle of blood from his clearly broken nose. Aside from that, he had a split lip and black eye but didn't seem to care about the the pain.

"Leave me alone, you fucking bastard." Cas spat at him, shoving Dean back as he got to his feet. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he paused to give me a look of deep loathing.

"Cas..." I said weakly and held out a shaky hand towards him. He turned on his heels and ran back towards the hospital, putting as much distance between himself and Dean and I as he possibly could.


	6. Chapter 6

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies!

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy~

* * *

The next few weeks felt odd to say the least. The lack of both Anna and Cas at the lunch table was unsettling. He refused to eat lunch with us anymore and even the addition of Dean and his friends to our regular group didn't fill the two empty seats. Even during class it was as if Cas was trying his damn hardest to act as though Dean and I didn't exist. I wanted to say something to him but I knew it would fall on deaf ears. He was trying to prove a point and it was coming across loud and clear. After spending pretty much every waking hour with him, the sudden cut off was taking a larger toll on me than I thought it would. It was almost disturbing how dependent on each other we had become offer the years. Of course, I had no way of knowing if he was suffering as much as I was.

"Hey, we should hang out after school today." Meg said at lunch one day, placing herself about two inches away from my face.

"Jesus! Why do you gotta be so close?" I jumped and nearly knocked over my apple juice. She didnt move, patiently awaiting my reply. "Yeah, alright, just back up a little, OK?"

"Awesome! You can see my new car." Meg leaned back satisfied. She had just gotten her license and was rubbing it in everyone's faces. It would be another three months before I could get mine. I rolled my eyes at her and went back to picking at my food. I didnt really have much of an appetite as of late and I had to constantly reassure my parents that it was just school stress causing me to not eat. I didnt want to have to explain the whole Cas situation to them, although I suspected they knew something was up.

After school I waited by the school gates for Meg who said she wanted the car to be a surprise. Just as I was beginning to worry she had been kidnapped, a van that could only be described as a "shaggin' wagon" pulled up beside me. Meg leaned out the window with a broad grin on her face.

"Awesome isn't it?"

"I don't know if that's the word I would use to describe it." I said as I clambered in the passenger seat. "I hope you washed the carpeting."

"Four times, it came with a bed in the back as well."

"I hope you burned it."

"It might come in handy one day. I'm thinking of painting peace signs on the outside." She joked as she honked the horn and shook her fist at a slow driver.

"Just call it the 'Mystery Machine' and get it over with." I said shaking my head. I waited until we had reached her house before asking the obvious question. "Spill, what are your ulterior motives for having me over?"

"I cant hang out with you like a normal human being?" She pretended to look confused as we walked into her room.

"That's a negative, seeing as it's a school night, something is up." I found a seat on her bed in amongst all the unicorn stuffies that stared up at me with their mildly creepy, dead eyes.

"Actually, it's what's up with you that I'm concerned about." She said taking a seat across from me on a bean bag chair. "You and Cas more specifically."

"What? Is this some sort of intervention?"

"Sort of. Charlie and I agree there's something wrong, it's not hard to tell, a and I wanna know what happened." I gaped at her. I had never pegged her as the therapist type.

"Cas is just being a dick that's all..." There was no way she was going to get the whole story from me.

"And you love him so this complicates things." She stated it so matter of factly that I felt like choking.

"It's not like that...but how do you know?"

"Oh it's so obvious. The only one blind to see it is Cas himself. He's never been too perceptive in that area has he?"

"What do you mean?"

She heaved a sigh and glared at me as if I was missing something obvious. "He's an attractive man, clearly you haven't noticed but there are a lot of girls in the school who would kill to be in your shoes. Hell, I was one of them. Why do you think I first sat at your lunch table?"

"I assumed you weren't too at making friends..."

"Puh-lease." She stretched out the word almost boredly. "I had other friends, I was just hoping to get closer to him. Of course, I was always too scared to make a move..."

"You? Scared? Oh that's rich, Meg Masters, self proclaimed 'tough gal' scared of boys." I ducked just in time to avoid a rainbow striped unicorn that was lobbed directly at my head. "Don't be mean, Masters. Why don't you like him now?"

"Clarence? He's not worth the effort. Once I got to know him, it just wasn't the same."

"Clarence?"

"What? Its a better name than 'Castiel'. Did his parents name him from the French side of a cracker box?" She readied another unicorn to throw before deciding against it and placing it tenderly back on it's shelf. "We're getting off topic here. Your issue is that you love Clarence but are with Dean, whom I'm assuming you don't really love."

"I like Dean..."

"Just not as much as you like Cas. Face it, Dean and you are just friends who happen to suck face a lot. There's no real future there, even I can see that." Meg wasn't wrong, Dean and I's relationship was superficial at best.

"Do you think I should tell him?"

"I would, I don't think Dean will be too heartbroken. And then you can throw yourself at Cas and all will be well in BabyLand." Meg did jazz hands for an added effect. "Let's just hope they don't have another big fight over you."

"I don't think it ever was over me. It was solely between them." Realization didn't so much dawn on me, as hit me like a ton of bricks. "None of this was ever about me. Cas acting so weird around Dean, ignoring the other girls, now I know what he was so confused about."

"Huh?" Meg scrunched up her face.

"Dean's not the one who took me from Cas, I'm the one who took Dean from him." I explained.

"Oh!...oh...OH!" I could see the gears turning in Meg's head. "I always knew there was something weird about Clarence...And Dean being straight is just too good to be true.."

"Hey, that's still my boyfriend you're talking about." I said standing up and grabbing my purse.

"Sorry, where are you going?"

"I have some stuff to get done. People to see, hearts to break, dates to set up."

"Hey now, you can't go forcing them into anything, especially since I don't think either of them really realizes it yet." Meg cautioned. "And besides, you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of being a third wheel. Get nice and cozy on the back burner!"

I turned to her and smiled. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner!"

Later that night I sat on my front porch waiting for Dean. I had sent him the ever ominous "We need to talk," text and had agreed to pick me up and go for a drive. I expected to feel more upset about the whole deal but in truth I was relieved. Yes, there was no guarantee Dean would still wanna be my friend but the rift in our relationship was there and I could only hope for the best. As for Cas, as long as we were speaking again I could get over the fact that we were never gonna be a thing. It never would've worked out in the long run, anyhow. I considered calling him, but Dean pulled up and I decided to wait until I got back home.

"Hey..." I felt immediately unsure of my plan as I sat beside him. He only gave me a half smile before turning back to watch the road as we headed towards the highway.

"Listen, Dean, we really need to talk."

"You already texted me that, no need to say it again." He was pissed and that made me feel worse.

"About you, me and Cas." I continued on, ignoring his previous statement.

"Cas? What does that asshole have to do with us." I had touched a nerve and I watched as his hands tightened on the wheel.

"He's my best friend, Dean. Even though we're not speaking at the moment, you don't have to be rude about him. " I frowned.

"Best friend, my ass. So let me guess, you're leaving me for him. How typical."

"What? No, this is for your benefit..." I struggled to find the exact words.

"My benefit? How is any of this for my benefit? I knew it was a mistake for dad to bring us here and was I ever right. This is why I hate staying in one place too long, Baby. Shit happens and I end up in the crossfire. I ruin everything I touch, I try to be happy and people end up getting hurt. I should never have met you guys." Dean yelled so loudly that I cringed away from him in the seat. The impala began to drift across the centre line as he dropped his attention from the road. A pair of bright headlights filled the car.

"DEAN! WATCH OUT!" I shrieked but it was too late. In a split seconds decision, he jerked the wheel so his side was facing the oncoming truck. I could hear glass shattering before my head slammed against the window and everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

This is just a short little chapter but as usual all rights belong to Supernatural and such, and reviews are still always very much appreciated.

Enjoy!

* * *

I could remember blurred voices and hands constantly holding on to me before I would sink again. I was fighting a losing battle with a force that sought to drown me and it seemed to last an eternity. Just as I would be about to break through the surface, just as faces began to appear, I would always be pulled back under to where the dark mist was. And then there was the song one day, an old one but a favourite of mine nonetheless. And I could recognize the voice singing it but I couldn't place their name. It bugged me to no end that I couldn't open my eyes and see who was singing in that deep, gravelly voice. Seeing their face would be enough to jog my memory, I was sure of it. It was only when the bright lights filled my head that I began to wonder if I had been awake the whole time. Turning my head took all the effort in the world, but by doing so I could pinpoint the person singing.

"And can I sail through the changing ocean tides, can I handle the seasons of my life?" The man sang quietly to himself. My brain seemed to be working at half its regular speed and I wanted to say something to him, ask him his name, but I couldn't form enough coherent thoughts to make it happen. My strength was quickly ebbing away so I closed my eyes once more and tried to focus on the lyrics to the song.

_Well I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I've built my life around you..._

The words brought a torrent of strange memories that didn't seem to connect at all with my current situation; shaking hands with a dark-haired boy as we agreed to build the world's greatest castle out of Lego. Holding the hand of the same boy, now older, as we stared up at our new school, both worried and excited about what our futures held; laughing with him as the red-headed girl in front of us succeeded in virusing the hell out of the school network. The blonde haired boy next to me on the roof of his car pointing out his favourite constellations as the world fell away and all that mattered was the pattern of the stars in the sky.

_But time makes you bolder, children get older..._

The sound of breaking glass and several people simultaneously calling my name. The pain in my head only second to the pain caused by the heat of the flames outside the car.

_I'm getting older too.._

Everything clicked together all at once and when I opened my eyes again, the room was no longer as blurry as it had been before.

"Yes, I'm getting older too.." The man in the chair beside my bed's singing trailed off as he noticed me looking at him.

"Cas." My voice was a barely there whisper but he seemed to hear it just fine.

"Oh, Baby, I thought I'd lost you." He cried and the look of relief on his face made me feel that, despite the pain I was in, everything was going to be alright.


	8. Chapter 8

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies.

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy!

* * *

"He's awake." A nurse said popping her head into my room on the second day of my hospital stay. Technically I had been there for five days but I only started counting after I was conscious. Cas and I looked at each other and he gave a small nod. He hadnt left since I had woken up and although he wouldn't say, I suspected he had stayed the whole five days. We hadn't outright apologized to each other but all was forgiven nonetheless.

"Can I go see him?" I asked the nurse tentatively and she shook her head giving me a sympathetic smile.

"His family's with him right now, Sweetheart. It's probably best if you wait a bit." She toddled off again and Cas gave a low chuckle.

"We could be family for all she knows!"

"I'm not much into the kissin' cousins thing." I disagreed reaching for my complimentary cup of ice chips that were more than half melted.

"So youre staying with him then?" Cas kept his tone light but I could see the despair in his eyes.

"Dont think so," I said shaking my head and spooning lukewarm water into my mouth with my good arm. "We're not exactly soul mates."

"Yeah that spot's been taken already." Cas said winking and I glared at him.

"Speak for yourself."

"I mean it, when I hear about the accident all I could think of was..." He cut off his sentence and began to blink furiously.

"Cas, don't." I reached over and gave his hand a squeeze, taking in his disheveled appearance. "Go home, you're exhausted."

"No, I'm fine. I'm okay, I'll stay."

"I'll call your dad and make him drag you home."

"I dont want to leave."

"Go." He looked at me for a long time before getting up and heading to the door.

"I'll be back soon." He warned.

"I'll text you when we're allowed in to see Dean." I waved at him as he walked out and the let my hand drop to my lap as the door closed behind him. I closed my eyes and waited for night to fall. I must've dozed off at some point because when I finally open them again, the sky outside my window was an inky blue and the activity outside my room had somewhat ceased. I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and typed out a quick message to Charlie. I only waited a few minutes for a response and with this new info, I grabbed my IV pole and slipped out of bed. Wincing at the pain in my ribs, I took a cursory peek out into the hallway which was decidedly clear of any prying eyes. I crept down the hallways, scanning the doors before the one I wanted popped up. I went inside the room without bothering to knock, hoping that no nurse was inside. Luck was on my side as the room was empty apart from Dean who was thankfully not sleeping.

"I wondered when you would come and visit me." His voice cut through the dark and I made my way blindly to where I thought the bed was.

"Sorry, the nurse told me off earlier and then I fell asleep." I said wryly as I sat on the edge of it.

"What's the verdict?"

"Four broken ribs, a busted up collar bone, severe whiplash and a mild concussion." I announced almost proudly and he gave a low whistle.

"You almost got me beat. _Five_ broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, left leg requiring surgery, severe whiplash and a moderate concussion."

"We're a bit of a mess, aren't we?" I murmured, brushing his hair back from his forehead.

"A little." He agreed. "No thanks to me of course."

"Dean, don't beat yourself up over this."

"And why not? You should be hating me right now, I almost got you killed. If you never want to forgive me, I'll be all too understanding." His voice cracked audibly.

"But you saved me too. You spun the car away, you took the brunt of it. You didn't intentionally try and kill me, it was an accident." I truly harbored no bitter feelings about the ordeal. We were both alive and that was all that mattered.

"I should've been paying attention. It's all my fault, I'm sorry." From the light shining through the window, I could see tears slip down his face.

"Dean, we're okay. That's all I care about. How's the car."

"ReaLly? Now you're concerned about the car? You slay me.." He gave derisive laugh." If you really want to know, she's pretty beat up but it's nothing I can't fix. Bobby had her towed to his junkyard. I'll fix her there." He shook his head and fell silent as he watched the stars outside his window.

"It's over between us, isn't it?" Dean turned to look back over at me.

"Yeah."

"It's what you wanted to talk about in the car..." He trailed off again.

"We can still be friends right?" I ended up sounding a little desperate but it earned the first genuine laugh I had heard from him in awhile.

"We always were better friends, weren't we?"

"Friends who sucked face occasionally, to quote Meg." I agreed. "Promise that you'll still take me stargazing sometimes?"

"Of course, you and Sammy are the only ones I know who truly appreciate it as much as I do." He shifted himself slightly and winced in pain.

"Need more pain meds?" I reached over for the call button but he stopped me.

"No, I'm fine...I've-"

"Had worse, yeah I know. But I'll let you get some sleep, I could use some more myself." I leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Night, Dean."

"G'night..." He closed his eyes and I reached over and pressed the call button. "Bitch."

I took a walk around the hospital the next day, just to stretch my legs, and when I got back to my room Cas was sitting in his usual chair, looming rather anxious.

"Oh thank god, I thought something had gone wrong and you were in surgery!" He said looking visibly relieved.

"You worry too much." I said pacing around the room. "I talked to Dean last night."

"Oh, how did that go?"

"We've always been better friends." I said simply, sitting down on the edge of my bed. I couldn't help but notice that Cas seemed more relieved, if that were even possible.

"Cas, I love you." I had no reason for saying it, it just felt like the right time to.

"Ummm, thanks? I love you too." He looked confused.

"No, I mean it. I honestly and truly love you. I have for a while now and I know I always will."

"Baby..."

"And it's also why I know nothing will ever happen between us. I dont need to hear any falsities, I know you don't love me back. Not in the same way. You know what? It doesn't even bother me. I'm proud to be your best friend and that will never change so that's why I'm gonna say it," I took a deep breath. "Go get him, tiger."

"I dont understand..." Cas looked blown away by my confession and even more so by what I was asking him to do. "Who am I getting?"

"Meg was right. Full on denial."

"Baby, do you need more pain meds? Maybe less? Youre really starting to scare me."

"Just you wait, Cas." I leaned over to give him a hug. "You'll figure it out eventually. And I'll be here for you when you do."

Cas leaned around me and started frantically hitting the call button while looking highly concerned. I could only smile in response.

Full on denial.


	9. Chapter 9

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies.

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy ~

(Please try to ignore any spelling errors that may have occurred. I think I caught them all but late night writing makes me miss these kinds of things.)

* * *

After Dean and I were discharged, him later than me, he decided to throw an impromptu, mini "we didnt die" party. It wasnt so much a party as Sam, Cas and I sitting on the old cars in Bobby's junkyard, drinking lemonade and watching Dean fix the Impala. All the same it was nice to be outside and the weather was quite forgiving.

"Dean, you're gonna end up in the hospital again! The doctor said no strenuous activity or you'll re-break your pelvis." I fretted as he used his legs to kick out a dent in the driver's side door. Just watching him was making my collarbone hurt.

"I'll be fine." He grunted as he kicked the door forcefully. "Remember, I've-"

"Had worse." The other three of us stated in unison, succeeding in freaking Dean out.

"Don't do that again, it's creepy." He warned, pointing in our direction. We all raised pour glasses to him, again in sync.

"Bobby, I'm gonna need back up. They've been replaced by robots." Dean shouted out to his uncle as he came outside with a fresh pitcher of lemonade.

"I swear to god, if you hurt yourself more, boy, the hospital is gonna be dealing with a lot more than your original injuries. It'll be a lot of work for them to pull my foot out of your ass." Bobby scolded as he refilled our glasses.

"Why do you guys all sound alike? Way to show some support." Dean grumbled as he dug through his toolbox.

"Well it's gonna be hard for you to look good at prom if you're in a full body cast." Bobby said, leaning against the hood of an old pickup. It was still quite a ways away from prom, but as per high school tradition, everyone was freaking out about it. Cas and I technically weren't gonna be part of it for a couple years, but the number of senior girls asking him to go with them didnt fail to astound me. The best part was watching as they blabbered on about what corset colour they wanted and Cas would just slowly turn to me with a look of horror on his face. Ever the good friend, I always jumped in to save him.

"Sorry, ladies, he's already taken. He's bring his dad, they're gonna wear matching lapels." It was my favourite line to use and earned me a few death glares in the process. I would probably be on more than one hit list by the time the year was up but I could see a future in being Cas' guardian angel.

"Please, I'm probably not even going. Prom is so lame." Dean snorted , jerking me out of my thoughts.

"That's just because you can't find a date." Sam said, downing his lemonade in one swig. "I thought Ruby asked you?"

"She did, but I turned her down." Dean replied, visibly shuddering. "I dont know where she's been. Trust me, Sammy, I do not want to get involved with that."

"You're so mean sometimes! Any who, I'm there's someone out there for you, you just having to keep looking." I cast Cas a sideways glance but his face remained impressively impassive.

"Prom is not for me. End of story. Now, Sammy, pass me the goddamn socket wrench before I lose any more of my patience." Dean held out a hand and his ever obedient puppy of a brother ran to hand it to him.

"Sam, it's not a good sign when your brother has you whipped." Cas called out to him,, shaking his head. Even though his back was turned, it wasnt hard to tell that Sam's face was bright red.

"Don't listen to him, he's just jealous that he's not so close to his brothers." Dean countered. Cas ground his teeth in frustration but couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from turning up slightly. Dean noticed and gave Cas a small wink causing the latter's face to turn red as well. There was no way in hell I was gonna them to skip out on prom.

"So, do you all get why I've gathered you here?" I addressed the girls surrounding me. They all looked rather unimpressed with the impromptu meeting at my house.

"You're leaving and never coming back? Thank god." Meg said as she flopped back on my bed.

"You're eloping with a guy you met on the internet?" Charlie asked as she typed away on her laptop in the corner of my room.

"You killed someone and need help burying the body?" Anna had a strangely sick mind for such an innocent looking girl.

"Sam Winchester sent you nude pictures and youre giving them to me?" Becky looked far too hopeful.

"What? No, Becky, that is neither here nor there. Youre all wrong." I took a deep breath. "I need you to help me with a plan. I call it 'The Curious Cas of Dean Winchester' aka, set Cas up with Dean.

"That name sounds like you stole it from somewhere." Charlie offered up.

"Wait, my brother's gay?" Oops, that was something I had forgotten to tell Anna.

"Yes."

"Huh, explains why he always wanted to play with the Ken dolls when we were little. They always came back with no clothes...So he told you?"

"Well no, I'm just kind of assuming. The signs are there..." I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "But I can tell that he's gonna explode if he doesn't tell someone soon."

"Secrets have C4 attached to them? Cool!" Meg laughed

"No! Guys, we have to be discreet about this. Cas cannot know what we're up to! Neither can Dean."

"But secrets make you explode. I dont wanna die, they haven't released the final Hobbit movie yet!" Charlie pause her typing to look up from her computer with concern.

"Sounds messy."

"Cas used to play with Barbies?"

"Are there timers so we know how much time we have before we explode?"

"BE SERIOUS PLEASE." I cut in and everyone jumped. "How are we gonna do this?"

"We can't just force them together. Just go talk to Cas, like a serious one on one talk. We're probably the least helpful to you." Meg said exasperatedly and I had to admit that she was right. Less than ten minutes after they had arrived, I was already showing the group out the for so I could talk to Cas. Thankfully he was at his house and I didnt have to go to any lengths to track him down.

"We need to talk." I sat down on his bed after I'd let myself into his room.

"Ever heard of knocking?" He set down the book he had been reading. "You already said we weren't gonna work as a couple so I'm just confused now..."

"No, no,no!" I waved a hand at him dismissively. "It's about you and Dean."

"What about us?" He was instantly defensive.

"You like him."

"Sure, he's a nice guy. We're quite good friends, but you already know that."

"No. You _like _him."

"I-I dont. I'm not gay, what are you talking about?" He stammered and turned bright red.

"Dont lie to me, Cas. I can tell when youre lying." I actually couldn't but could always con him into thinking I could.

"I...I...oh god, Baby. I love him." He covered his face with his hands in defeat. I had a little internal victory dance but kept my face serious.

"And I dont think it's unrequited." He peeked over at me hopefully.

"You think?"

"Mhmm. In fact, let's go find him right now and tell him!" I didnt exactly know where he was but Cas jumped up eagerly enough.

"I bet Sam knows. C'mon, we can take my car." Cas grabbed his coat and pulled me behind him as he headed for the garage. Within seconds we were securely in his pimpmobile (my nickname for it, not the actual car brand) and headed for the Winchesters' motel room. As soon as we got there, Cas came to a screeching halt in the parking lot.

"I can't do this." He looked really ill.

"You can! It will be easy."

"But what if he doesn't like me back? I'm taking us home, it was a stupid idea." He started the car back up and I leaned over and shut it off.

"It will be fine, trust me. You'll say 'I love you', he'll say it back, you'll kiss and get married. Prom King and King right there."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Cas, you'll be okay." I gave his hand a squeeze and he gave me a small nod to signal he was ready. We walked up the room and knocked on the door. Sam answered it, looking surprised to see us.

"What are you guys doing here?" He leaned against the door frame.

"We need to see Dean." Sam looked a little crestfallen and I made a mental reminder to explain everything to him after.

"Oh, he's around the back I think." Sam said and we said goodbye. We headed around back and I watched as a mixture of excitement and anxiety spread across Cas' face.

"I'm gonna be sick." He said as we rounded the corner.

"Dont throw up on me, please." I said giving him a disgusted look. Without warning he stopped dead in his tracks and I looked ahead to see why we'd stopped. Pressed up against the back of the motel was Ruby, making out rather heavily with Dean. I felt my heart sink as I watched Dean's hand slide slowly up under her shirt. Without warning, Cas turned on his heel and fled and I cursed Dean for being such an asshole. This plan would not be as easy as I thought it would.


	10. Chapter 10

I meant to update sooner but the damn flu has kept me down and out these past few days.

It's another short chapter, but I promise the next few will be longer and more interesting. Hopefully, anyway!

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy!

* * *

"How's Cas doing?" Anna stood over me as I sat with my back to the door to Cas' room.

"Well he still won't come out...but I did hear movement about half an hour ago so that's progress. He'll have to come out to use the bathroom at some point." Ever since the Dean incident he had locked himself in his room, refusing to let anyone in.

"I brought him a sandwich; PB&J, his favourite.I squished it a little so it'll fit under his door." She handed me a plate and we both worked on shoving it under the door. There was a couple minutes of silence before the sandwich's shadow disappeared.

"It tastes like molecules..." Cas complained, shoving it back under the door and returning to his solitude.

"Ah, well. It was worth a try." I sighed, shifting into a more comfortable position.

"I'm worried about him." Anna said sadly.

"He'll be fine, he won't do anything drastic."

"I know, it's just all this crap is going in and I wish everything was back to how it used to be. I want our normal lunch table back. I miss it so much." There had been a lot of discord lately and I couldn't even remembered the last time everyone was sitting together at the table. I didnt realize it meant so much to Anna.

"You know, the worst part of the angels talking to me is not the tihings they tell me to do to myself. I can deal with that. It's when they tell me that you guys aren't my real friends. That youre just pretending to be my friends and when Im not around you make fun of me." Her breathing hitched a little and she struggled to continue on. "I know they're not real and I know it's not true but it's so hard not to believe it when it's being screamed in your head twenty-four hours a day."

"Anna..." I didnt know what else to say.

"You guys are all I have. If I were to lose you, I don't know what I'd do." She stood up quickly to hide her tears and ran down the hallway into her room. As her door slammed, I felt the one behind me open up and I fell backwards.

"I have to pee..." Cas mumbled as he stepped over me. His eyes were rather puffy and he had bothered to put to his tie on the right way. It had been six years since I had seen him with his tie like that. Within minutes I had left the house and was on my way back to the motel.

"Where's your brother?" I asked Sam brusquely when he answered the door.

"Umm, watching TV, just over there." He pointed behind himself and I shoved past him and flipped the TV off.

"I was watching that!" Dean complained as he shoved a handful of chips into his mouth.

"Outside. Now. We have to talk." I snapped and he jumped to his feet rather quickly. I didnt realize I sounded so threatening. With him cowering, I lead him outside trying to keep my own emotions in check.

"You are the biggest asshole I have ever met." Not a great start to the conversation but I had forgotten all the retorts I had prepared.

"What did I do?" He looked confused.

"You and Ruby, yesterday! Cas and I saw you!" I gesticulated wildly as if it would prove my point.

"You were spying on me?" He said incredulously. "And what does it matter anyway?"

"Because Cas likes you! He really, really likes you." I dropped my hands to my sides in defeat.

"He does?!...I mean, does he now?"

"Yes, he does. We were coming here to tell you."

"I'm not gay, Baby. I-I dont like guys..." He avoided my gaze.

"It doesn't even matter anymore, I just wanted you to know." I started to walk away.

"Wait, Baby...In case it does matter, Ruby and I aren't a thing. I dont know what I was thinking...I'm still not gay though!" He sounded flustered but I was too tired to figure it out.

"Whatever. See you on Monday, maybe." I waved halfheartedly but turned to look back when I had gotten out of the parking lot. Dean was still standing there, blushing bright red and kicking his feet in the dust. I had done all I could.

At lunch on Monday, I was surprised to see Meg, Dean, and Cas absent from our table. Anna looked vaguely miserable about it but I didnt mention anything until Meg came flying into the lunch room.

"You. With me. Now!" She panted as she came to a halt in front of me. Without getting a chance to answer, she had already taken off again and I had to run to keep up. We went outside the school and start heading down the path Cas and I used to get to our hiding spot.

"Wait a minute, how do you know about this place? Did you follow us before?" I gaped at her as our pace slowed somewhat down.

"Yeah, way back when I thought you two were an item and were coming here to hook up." She spoke as if it was old news.

"You what?"

"Quiet down! They'll hear us." She shushed me loudly as we headed into the trees and a bit farther along, she motioned for me to start crawling. I grumbled under my breath about pine needles in my hands and dirt stains on my new jeans, but Meg just shushed me again and pointed up ahead to the clearing. Dean and Cas were completely attached at the lips, missing as if the world depended on it.

"Not gay, my ass.." I murmured and Meg didnt even bother to try and shut me up. We could've been screaming and the two of them wouldn't have paid any attention. "How did you find the! Like this?"

"I watched them leave the school together and figured I'd follow. Honestly, I was expecting another fight, not this." We both viewed the scene with interest for another couple of minutes before it began to feel slightly creepy and we opted to leave, simply walking out this time instead of bothering to crawl.

"So...I guess that's a thing now." Meg said as we headed back to the school and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Apparently. How long do you think it'll take for them to announce it?"

"Probably never if they can help it...I dont know how well received it will be. I mean sure, we're fine with it, but their parents, the other kids at school, this isn't exactly the most liberal area now is it?" Her words caught me off guard and I felt my smile fade.

"It'll be fine...Everything will be okay now." I had said these words too many times for them to hold any truth.

Even I couldn't believe them anymore.


	11. Chapter 11

Ooops, Another small-ish chapter. My bad.

All rights belong to Supernatural and the other respective companies,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy~

* * *

Meg and I agreed not to confront Cas and Dean about what we saw, we were simply gonna let them tell us when they were ready.

So I waited,

and waited,

and waited.

Right up until the next day when Cas and I were hanging out. My timing was truly impeccable as he has just taken a large drink of water.

"So, you and Dean, huh?" I hoped I was casual enough but Cas still spit his water all over our essays.

"Pardon?" He spluttered, coughing and blushing and the same time. It was not very cute.

"You don't have to hide it anymore. It's okay, Meg and I know."

"YOU WERE SPYING ON US?"

"I'd call it 'observing' but sure, if you wanna be harsh about it." He was taking this a lot harder than I would've expected. Then again, it had been rather creepy what Meg and I did.

"There's nothing going on between Dean and I...It was just..ummm..." He was desperately trying to justify kissing Dean.

"The heat of the moment?" I offered up helpfully.

"What? No, I mean, yes...I don't know what I mean." It was like watching a train wreck. "Don't bring an Asia song into this, Baby."

"But it's Tuesday!"

"What does that even mean?"

"I dunno, it was on the radio today. For the past few days actually, how weird..." I momentarily lost my train of thought. "Anyway, I'm happy for you guys. I went to go talk to Dean on Sunday and I didn't think anything was gonna come of it."

"You did? That's what he was talking about...Thank you." He leaned over to pull me into a hug.

"Wait! You're thanking me for interfering with your life? Normally that shit doesn't fly..." I gave him a confused look.

"I need your help. I don't know how I'm supposed to tell my family. Please, I need you." He gave me one of the looks that made me fall in love with him in the first place.

"Fine, what do you need me to do." I sighed in defeat. Our homework was soon forgotten as we worked out a speech for him to give. He wanted to wait a week but I urged him to do it as soon as possible, otherwise he would just keep putting it off. Finally, he agreed on calling a family meeting that night and I agreed to stick around for moral support. Around supper time, I could see he was getting increasingly nervous about it.

"Got ants in your pants, Cas? You seem a little fidgety today." Chuck commented as he ladled soup into a bowl.

"It's nothing, dad...Actually there was something I wanted to talk to you guys about-" He opened his mouth to start but the front door banged open at that moment and Gabe, Lucifer, and Michael all walked in.

"S'up Daddy-o. The party is officially here!" Gabe said obnoxiously and Cas paled significantly. He wasn't expecting his eldest brothers to be present for the conversation.

"Sit down, boys. Your brother has something to say." Chcuk leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands, giving Cas his full, undivided attention. With the spotlight now on him, Cas began to lose courage. Looking over at me for encouragement, I gave him a nod and a smile and he opened his mouth to speak once more.

"You're pregnant!" Lucifer said pointing at me. It was my turn to nearly spit out my water.

"What, no!"

"Damn...I owe you five bucks." Zachariah said to Uriel who was smirking.

"Hang on...You took bets on whether or not I was pregnant?"

"Well, you guys have been so secretive lately...And you put on a few pounds..." Zachariah said, shrugging his shoulders and I contemplated throwing my bowl of soup at his face.

"Enough! You never comment on anyone's weight, Zach. I taught you better than that!" Chuck scolded his son before turning back to Cas. "Continue on, please."

"Ummm, well, I hope you guys don't think any differently of me for this...I didn't exactly realize it myself until not to long ago myself...ummmm." He was struggling and I wondered if he was gonna back out and make up some lie.

"Oh spit it out! The football game is on in ten minutes and at this rate we're gonna have to listen to you stammer until next year." Gabe groaned.

"I'm gay!" Cas said it rather suddenly and then clapped a hand over his mouth.

"That's it? I thought you were on drugs or something. I really didn't want to find a rehab." Chuck said, going back to eating his soup. Anna gave a squeal of delight and began to do a mini victory dance of sorts. Gabe smiled broadly and held out his hand to Lucifer and Michael as the two of them muttered darkly under their breath and handed him twenty bucks each.

"I guess we were definitely wrong about the pregnancy thing...Unless you _are _pregnant, just by some random guy." Zachariah said to me with mild surprise.

"AM NOT! AND I DID NOT PUT ON WEIGHT!" I yelled at him, and within minutes the whole table had erupted in various small arguments, none of which had to do with Cas' sexual orientation. In the midst of all the chaos, I caught a glance at Cas who was still standing up, watching his family bicker with a broad grin slowly extending across his face. For him, the best case scenario had happened. He wasn't going to be ostracized for who he liked, his family didn't care, even half of them had expected it. In turn, I was filled with relief that everything had gone so well, I knew it would but the doubts were still there. Now if only the same could happen for Dean.


	12. Chapter 12

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective companies,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy~

* * *

I felt oddly nervous as I left myself into Cas' house. It wasnt that I wasnt welcome, it was just strange as of late. I found Anna sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework.

"Is Cas here?" I asked as I sat down across from her.

"Nope, he's out with Dean." She didnt even look up from the trig problem she was doing.

"Oh..." I felt more uncomfortable and played on my phone for awhile, hoping he would show up. The front door opened and I jumped around excitedly but it was only Chuck.

"Hi, Baby! Haven't seen you in awhile! I dont think Cas is here though." He took off his coat and looked around the kitchen as though he expected him to be hiding in a cupboard or something.

"Yeah, Anna told me...out with Dean again."

"Try not to sound too happy about it. That's what happens when people start dating, sometimes you have to take a back burner."

"But I shouldnt though! I'm his best friend, I know that kid more than anyone else. Why should I take backseat to a...a Winchester!" I exploded, slapping a hand on the table causing Anna to jump.

"I know it's not fair, kiddo, but that's life. You'll understand more once you get a boyfriend." Chuck laughed as he started to make himself a cup of coffee.

"Everyone seems to forget that I dated Dean too. I was never like that to Cas, I always made time for him!"

"Well, you guys weren't exactly a typical couple. Cas and Dean act more like you'd expect teenagers to. Trust me, you'll find someone like that and you won't feel so bad." Chuck had been watching far too many talk shows, that much I was certain of. Thankfully, Cas arrived home not long after and saved me from having to listen to anymore dating advice. I sat on his bed and watched as he did various, meaningless tasks around his room.

"You should've told me you were coming over..." He hummed quietly to himself as he put away his laundry.

"I did. I texted you like ten times today but you never answered so don't say you didnt have any warning."

"Well Dean and I were busy trying to figure out how he's gonna come out to his dad...I didnt get a chance to check my phone." I leaned forward on the bed, my mind already filled with things Dean could say.

"It won't be that hard, I know his dad is a jerk and all but he could always just sit him down and say-" Cas cut me off with a firm wave of his hand.

"Baby, this is not for you to get involved with. We have to figure this out for ourselves."

"But I'm just trying to help...I helped you!" That was my thing, I always helped where I could.

"I know, but you can't always control people's lives with your little plans. It doesn't always work that way, we can do this on our own. Dont take this the wrong way, you're still my friend and everything, but sometimes you just need to butt out."

"Oh so I've been downgraded to 'friend' now have I?'" This new version of Cas was really starting to piss me off.

"Dont be that way, we've gone through enough shit this year, I don't need you starting any petty arguments." He slammed his sock drawer shut with unnecessary force.

"Petty arguments? Well maybe if you bothered to to text me back every once and awhile..."

"I told you, I've been busy! And really, it wouldn't kill us to spend some time apart, we've basically spent every day of our lives together." He spoke so nonchalantly it was like a slap to the face.

"It's never been a problem before! The whole reasoning behind that was that we liked spending time together!"

"Oh grow up, it's not like we can be like this forever. It's unhealthy to spend so much time with one person." Oh the irony.

"Grow up? Well fuck you too, Cas. I dont know what's gotten into you lately but it's really making me angry."

"You know what's with me lately? I'm actually happy for once. And if you can't deal with me being happy then you can screw off." I knew he didnt mean what he was saying but there was no way I was gonna let him take it back.

"Already gone. Have a nice life, asshole!" I shoved him out of the way of the door.

"Dont be so childish!" I contemplated sticking my tongue out at him but decided that flipping him the bird would be the more "grown up" option. I stormed out of the house and ran directly into Dean.

"Oof! Sorry, Baby! I didnt know you were here. Cas left his coat in my car and I just wanted to return it." He looked so happy that I had to clench my fists to keep from punching him in his stupidly perfect face.

"STOP BEING SUCH A GOOD BOYFRIEND!" I yelled at him before racing down the driveway, ignoring his attempts to get me to come back. I got back to my house in record time and slammed the door to my room before my parents could even so much as say hello. Throwing myself onto my bed, I buried my face into my pillow. I started to calm down after about ten minutes and was deciding on whether or not to raid my candy stash when my phone began to buzz in my back pocket. Turning on the screen, my anger returned once more as I saw Cas' name pop on the screen.

**Dean told me to apologize.**

**Sorry.**

Cas must've spent hours working on such a heartfelt apology. As was such, I replied to his text with equal good tidings.

**Wow, Cas. Your text made me tear up a little. I didnt know you were capable of such kind, generous words. Oh wait, you really aren't.**

**I dont need your boyfriend apologizing for you. I'll consider accepting it when you want to say it yourself.**

I stared at my phone, willing it to buzz again so hopefully I could receive some actual sympathy from him. As mad as I was at Cas, I didnt want to stay that way. It was another ten minutes before my phone buzzed again.

**I was planning on writing something else but Dean is reading over my shoulder and saw what I started to type. If I have a concussion from how hard he hit me, remember that I'm blaming it on you.**

**Here goes nothing...**

At least I had a friend in Dean, or at least a regulator. I had to wait another couple of minutes before the rest of the text went through.

**Im not going to apologize for what I said. Maybe half of it, calling you "childish" and telling you to grow up was uncalled for and for that, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings and I know I haven't been around much lately but I will make more time for you. I'm sorry for saying that it's unhealthy to spend so much time with one person, it's probably a true fact but I enjoy spending time with you and that won't change. Im sorry for not answering your texts, I promise I will try to be more diligent with that. Those are the things I am apologizing for, these are the things I am not:**

**1) I will not apologize for spending so much time with Dean. Apart from you, he is the only person who I can be 100% myself around. I enjoy his company as much as I enjoy yours.**

**2) I am not going to accept your help with Dean coming out. This is truly something that is between Dean and I. His father is not exactly the most accepting of things like that so we need to wait things out before we do anything. It sounds vague but I dont know how else to explain it.**

**3) I really dont want to get into petty arguments anymore. I'm sick of the stress that I've been under lately and I know I'm partly to blame for that but I really dont need anything added to that. Nearly losing the two most important people has given me more than enough grief for the year. Please dont take this the wrong way, I know you can't always help it if youre in a bad mood, just try not to pick fights where there is none.**

**4) I still do think you need to grow up a little bit. We aren't kids anymore, we're almost adults and what are we gonna do when we both go off to college and can't see each other every day? This is bound to happen and I'm not saying we should stop being friends, I just dont think we should rely so much on one another for our happiness. I found Dean and there's someone out there for you, I know it. You're the kindest, most generous person I know, anyone would be lucky to call you their girlfriend.**

**That's all I really have to say. The choice is yours whether or not you wanna forgive me. I can't change who I am, Baby, and yet saying that, I'm always changing. I can already see you rolling your eyes and muttering about how cliché that sounds but the fact is we're teenagers and hell if everything we do isn't cliché to some degree.**

**Try and get some sleep, I'll see you before school tomorrow.**

**PS Dean says he won't stop being a good boyfriend. He can't help it.**

I had to reread the text several times before I replied, even then it was only with a simple "I forgive you." It had been ages since I had seen Cas put that much thought into his writing. I did truly forgive him and I knew he was right for the most part. Perhaps I did rely on him too much for my happiness, I had so many other friends that had been shoved off to the side in the wake of all my Cas/Dean problems. I had been so focused on those two that everyone else had simply been pawns in my grand schemes. This was something I vowed to change and I was more than glad that Cas had been the one to call me out on my faults. And I had apparently severely underestimated Cas' relationship with Dean, he talked serious and it surprised me more than anything. The one thing I found myself disagreeing with was Cas' misunderstanding that I was jealous that he had a boyfriend and I didnt. My soulmate could've been wandering outside my bedroom window screaming my name and I probably wouldn't have even opened the blinds.


	13. Chapter 13

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective companies.

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy~

* * *

Everything went well for Can and Dean until all at once it didn't. They kept their relationship relatively secret, only informing the friend group and any close family members (apart from Dean's dad). And yet word got out somehow and I found myself standing with Cas and Dean staring at the now destroyed Impala that had once sat so beautifully in the school parking lot. Someone had not only smashed all the windows and slashed the tires, but keyed numerous homophobic slurs and insults all over the exterior. Dean stared at his baby, his fists clenched by his sides and his jaw working furiously. He had this fascinating ability to look like he was both going to cry and kill someone at the same time. Cas took it the hardest, I could see the same sort of hollowness enter his eyes that had when he mother died. I had promised myself that I would prevent him from ever getting that look again but now it was beyond my control. All I could do was sit with Cas and Sam on the edge of the curb while Dean called Bobby to bring a towtruck.

There was no lack of whispering that surrounded us as we sat there and I was powerless to stop any of it. At the same time I was furious that anybody could be so cruel and I found myself sizing up anyone who glanced our way, putting the blame on anyone who didnt look the least bit sympathetic. When Bobby arrived, he didnt say a word, just gave Dean a long look before hooking the Impala up. Cas and Dean went with him while Sam and I drove behind in Cas' car. Sam snickered slightly as I flipped off several freshmen who were being not so inconspicuous with their appreciation of the damage done to the Impala.

"Why are human beings so horrible to one another, like all the time?" I fumed as I sunk low in the passenger's seat. Sam, who was strongly focused on the road, only shrugged in response.

"Who would do it though? You didnt tell anyone, did you?" I was being a little accusatory but someone had let something slip and I wanted to know who.

"What? No! I would never do that to my brother. It could've been you for all I know." Sam snapped, breaking his concentration momentarily.

"Me? If anything you were-" I stopped myself from continuing, it wouldn't help the situation and I remembered what Cas said about me starting petty arguments. "Never mind. At least _whoever _did it, did it on a Friday so Dean has the weekend to work on it."

"I wonder if it was Dick?" Sam theorized, probably ignoring what I had said. Dick Roman was the president of the school council and an all around scumbag. Unfortunately few shared the same opinion as me and he was voted in with triple the votes of any other candidate and now we had to suffer seeing his smug face on posters all over the school.

"I don't think so...He's an asshole but he doesn't have beef with either Dean or Cas so he would risk tarnishing his reputation with something small like a gay couple. It's someone who knows the two of them." I bit my lip and stared out the window. No one in either of the two groups that made up our lunch table would do anything like that. Even Ruby had more class.

We ended up spending most of the weekend at Bobby's, lending Dean a hand where we could and offering our support as he restored the Impala once more. I could tell the whole ordeal was eating at Cas but he wouldn't say so and spend most of the weekend just brooding. Dean got gradually more cheerful as the days went on and his car returned to normal.

"No one can keep her down for long!" He said proudly, late sunday evening after he had finished repainting the exterior. That's just the way Dean was, you knock him down and he stands back up, both middle fingers raised high in the air. Sam and I cheered appropriately but Cas just slid off the car he was sitting on and headed over to his own vehicle.

"I'm gonna head home now." He stated rather glumly and drove off before any of us could even process what he said.

"He'll be back...He will be back right?" Dean look at me uncertainly and I had no answer for him.

"I take it that he didnt take that too well. We'll drive you home, dont worry." Sam gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze but it wasnt the ride back I was worried about.

"We should go after him."

"Huh? No, he'll be fine, he need his space." Dean went back to polishing the hood.

"No, we really should go after him." I ran over to Dean and grabbed the car keys from his back pocket. I slid into the Impala and started her up.

"What no, get out! No one but me or Sam drives Baby, alright? Hand over the keys nicde and easy now." Dean's voice went up several octaves and he kept looking over at Sam for support. I gave Sam one look and he calmly got in the passenger side.

"Sammy, c'mon, take the keys away from her..."

"Get in, Dean, she knows what she's doing."

"But. I can drive us?"

"You wouldn't know where to go. Hurry up before I leave you behind." I gave Dean his ultimatum and he stared at me in awe for a few more seconds before slowly climbing into he backseat where he continued to whine about me driving.

"Shut up, I'll take it easy." I promised as I gunned it down the hgiway, praying no cops were nearby. I let Sam choose the radio station and that seemed to be the last straw for Dean, he sat back in his seat pouting like a five year old. As I drove past the diner he perked up suddenly.

"Hey, wait. I know where we're going! I could've driven us there!" He slammed a fist down on his knee but I ignored him and turned to Sam.

"Your brother, you deal with him!" Sam nodded at my request and spun around to face his brother.

"Dean, shut up."

When we got to the clearing, Cas was already there, sitting on the hood of his car, staring intently up at the sky. Dean walked over to him and grabbed one of his hands. Cas just seemed to cave inwards and Dean held on tightly to him as he sobbed. Sam and I awkwardly waited in the car as the sky darkened and I was about to suggest that we leave when he pointed up at the night sky excitedly and jumped out of the car.

"Meteor shower! C'mon, guys. Get comfy." He hopped up on the hood and the rest of us just sort of followed suit. It was rather cramped and I more or less had to lay on Sam to keep from falling off but it was well worth it. It was the perfect night to be watching the meteor shower; there was not a cloud in sight and it was warm enough to stay for hours. Sam's watch lit up and beeped as it hit midnight and Dean extracted himself from the pile and slid off the roof.

"Showtime's over boys and girl!" He clapped his hands togetherand looked at us expectantly.

"Or we could stay.." Cas said quietly and neither Sam or I moved in a show of solidarity. Dean mulled this over before sighing and clambering back onto the hood.

"Fine, ten more minutes. Then I'm getting you guys home before I'm accused of kidnapping or something." I smiled triumphantly before turning my gaze back upwards. The stars began to blur together and the constellations became one as I felt my eyes begin to slowly close. It felt like only seconds later that a particularly obnoxious crow had me opening them again. I squinted in the sunlight and lifted my head off of Sam's chest, looking around in confusion as I tried to work a kink out of my neck. Sam, Dean and Cas were all still asleep and we had been coated in a small layer of leaves over night.

"Oohhh shit..." I swore quietly as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

9:34 am and five missed calls from my mother.

We were so screwed.


	14. Chapter 14

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective companies.

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy!

* * *

It was around lunchtime that we finally got to school. I had lied to my mom and told her we had spent the night at Bobby's and the alarm didn't go off. She didn't seem to believe it 100% but also didn't question me any further so I considered it a win. I had never been much of a class skipper so walking in late felt odd, even more so when coupled with the stares and whispers that followed us in. It was by no means the amount a movie would portray, but a fair number of people seemed keen on talking behind our backs. Dean did't even seem to be aware that anything was going on but I could see it was making Cas edgy and that was rubbing off on me in turn. Our group was already eating by the time we showed up and they seemed both relieved and uncomfortable by our reappearance.

"What's going on?" I asked Kevin suspiciously.

"Well, word spread about Dean and Cas, and normally that kind of stuff gets shrugged off but Dean's pissed off a few too many people for that too happen. The rumour's been twisted and now there's a bunch of weird stories going around. Obviously they're all a bit ridiculous but people will believe anything they hear about someone they don't like." He said quietly so Cas wouldn't hear and I felt my heart sink.

"Do we know who started the rumours?"

"Yeah, Metatron." I gave Kevin a look of complete disbelief. 'Metatron' (as the kid called himself) was in our grade and used to be friends with Cas before high school. Cas never told me why they stopped talking but I had always assumed it had just been a mutual fall out. The kid was the head of the Bible club and had never come across as particularly malicious. I wanted to ask Kevin more but Dean interrupted us by plopping himself beside Cas whilst devouring a large burger.

"Don't give me that look. Everyone's been giving me that look and it's creeping me out." He said pointing at me.

"Don't point, it's rude. And There's sort of a reason behind that..." I didn't want to tell him but I knew I had to.

"Thanks, _mom_." He replied rolling his eyes. "And tell me then, don't beat around the bush like you always do.'

"_I do not!_"

"You're doing it right now, just spit it out."

"Fine," I bit my lip and struggled to find the right words. "Soooo...Metatron-has-been-spreading-rumours-about-you-and-Cas-and-now-everyone-hates-you-because-they-already-hated-you-but-now-they-have-a-reason-to." It all came out in one big rush.

"Hang on, slow down. What was that last part again?" His eyes narrowed so I knew he had heard at least some of what I'd said.

"You guys are in hot water, reputation-wise. The pipsqueak four tables over is responsible." I clarified. Dean stood up as if to go confront him but Cas yanked him back down by his sleeve.

"It's not worth it, Dean. It's just not worth it..." He muttered.

"The Hell it is!" Dean's words were drowned out by the table in question as an explosion of laughter started. I looked over only to see most of the people at the table staring at us and whispering behind their hands as they tried to suppress their obnoxious giggling. The smug look on Metatron's face made my blood boil and I hadn't even realized that I'd stood up myself until I felt Meg tugging on my arm.

"What are you gonna do?" She hissed.

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out." I said quite honestly as I pulled my arm out of her grip and made my way over to the other table. The laughter died down as soon as I approached and Metatron crossed his arms as walked over to his seat.

"Ooohhh lookie here. The boys have to send their little dog over to fight their battles for them because theyre too scared to do it themselves." He received more laughter from his cronies at this comment.

"Stuff it, you ignorant dickwad." I snapped at him.

"If youre looking for Dick, he's over at the other table." Megatron said looking mock confused as he pointed over to Dick Roman who was eating a salad and looking overly pretentious about it.

"Hilarious. Listen up, either you back off and leave them alone or I will shove my foot so far up your ass, you'll be tasting leather for the next six weeks." My words garnered a myriad of "oooh"s and "oh snap!"s from the rest of the people at the table but Megatron himself looked rather unfazed.

"Are you threatening me?"

"No because that could get me suspended. Consider it a friendly warning of things to come." I turned on my heel and walked away before I would do something I'd later regret but feel good about at the same time.

"You told him." Dean said sarcastically as I sat back down at our table.

"Oh hush, I've never done something like that before." I blushed which didn't go unnoticed by anyone.

"Ooooh, we should call you 'Tiger' from now on. Baby is just too weak of a nickname." Cas teased, lightening up considerably.

"Shut up!" This only prompted an off-key accapella version of "Eye of the tiger" to break out among the group. This continued on for the rest of the day and I received more than one video text of the song that night. I thought it would end in the morning but Dean began humming it as soon as I got to my locker.

"I swear to God, Dean. If-" I stopped mid sentence as soon as Cas walked in, with his head hung low.

"If what?" Dean laughed, not realizing why I had stopped. After a moment, he caught on and turned to look where I was staring. Even with his head facing down, it wasnt hard to see how beaten up Cas was; he had a split lip and nasty looking bruise on his cheek.

"Who did this to you?" Dean demanded, rushing forward to assess the damage.

"No one, I walked into my bedroom door." Cas mumbled as he buried his face in Dean's shoulder.

"And the door fought back did it? Cas, tell me who did it and I'll deal with them." Cas groaned and pulled away from Dean just in time to avoid being crashed into by a random student. The guy did manage to clip Dean's shoulder quite hard.

"Hey! Watch it!" Dean called after him.

"Oh sorry! I didnt see you there." The boy sneered and I recognized him as one of Metatron's friends. Dean muttered darkly under his breath and continued to be moody for the rest of the morning. Both he and Cas disappeared at lunch and I felt awful that they were being run out of the school. What made it worse was that I could see Metatron reanacting something at his table that looked suspiciously like beating up Cas.

"Im gonna rip his throat out and shove it down a garburator." I announced to the others and they all nodded in agreement.

"I think that's too light of a punishment still. But there's no chance in hell of pulling it off. We can't even get close enough to the dude to poke him with a ten foot pole." Charlie said.

"What do you mean? I walked up to him yesterday...it wasnt that difficult." I was highly confused.

"Yeah but he wasnt threatened by you. If Dean has gone over there, all the little brain-washed jerks would've assembled into some freaky human shield or something."

"Not to mention the fact that it couldve been almost anyone that beat up Cas. The "I hate Dean Winchester" club spread far beyond just the Bible-thumpers." Meg pointed out.

"What the Hell are we supposed to do? The six of us sure as hell aren't brawny enough to stop all this crap. We're probably the least intimidating people in this entire school!" I threw my hands up in defeat.

"Sorry to interrupt, little sister, but that's what we're here for." A voice to my right added in and I turned to see Benny Lafitte wave at me from the table connected to ours. Sometimes I forgot that Dean's friends ate lunch with us.

"You guys would help?" I asked, astonished.

"We're their friends too, you're not alone in this." Jo Harvelle piped up and the others all offered their solidarity.

"Give us a time and a place and we'll make sure the little creep goes running home to his mommy with his tail tucked between his legs." Ruby said and I felt my respect for her rise rather drastically. It was strange but kind of awesome how two entirely different groups of people could become united over some common good. Sure, we were more or less a bunch of rebels without a clue but we would personally make sure that Metatron's little army of hate was burned straight to the ground.

We were gonna raise some Hell.


	15. Chapter 15

I know this chapter is a little weak but I needed to get it out of the way!

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective companies,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy, you wonderful people.

* * *

"The lowliest scum on earth is at it again." Meg whispered to me at our lockers, pointing to Metatron who was humming to himself and putting up several posters on a billboard next to us. Naturally all of them were promoting his Bible club and I felt my heart sink as I read over several of the quotes he had included. As with all the other posters that had popped up over the past week, these ones boasted the importance of living "to the highest and best moral standards that God has set for us." Naturally, there were photos of opposite sex couples and all the anti-gay quotes that were supposedly in the Bible. Metatron clearly needed to get his eyes checked if he believed that the Bible stated that an all-loving God would just dislike a choice group of people who were literally doing nothing to hurt anyone. It just didn't make any sense.

Metatron and the remaining people in his club (most had left due to the hate he was promoting) had waged an all out, rather one sided war against Cas, Dean and anyone else who identified as anything other than straight at our school. We did fight back to a degree, Meg took it upon herself to cross out and add words to the posters, making them rather obscene but very unique, and anyone who dared try and bully the aforementioned minorities in our school faced the wrath of Dean, Benny and Sam. Mr. Crowley had even kicked a student out of our business class because the boy had asked to move seats because sitting was "too distracting" due to their "differing lifestyles." I took pride in our little victories but at the same time I wanted nothing more that for it to all blow over. It frustrated me to no end that even though we were almost adults, people still had to act like children and couldn't butt out of other peoples' businesses. I honestly began to believe that some of them thought that having openly gay students in our school would cause the earth to open up and swallow the building whole.

"I see that look in your eyes. Don't do anything stupid..." Meg warned, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"Too fricking late..." I said pushing her aside and striding over to Metatron. My last confrontation with him had been decidedly too nice.

"oh look, have you come to admit you're wrong?' Metatron smirked as he finished putting up the last poster.

"No, because I'm not. I've just got five things to say to you."

"oh this oughta be good, gather 'round world! She has five things to say to me!" Metatron announced rather loudly and a few curious passerbys stopped but most people just kept walking. I held up my hand with my palm facing me and began my not entirely unrehearsed speech.

"One," I wiggled my thumb and folded it down. "You literally have no right to dictate what people do with their lives. You hold no higher authority over them and even if you did, you still dont have the right to do that."

"Two," I put my pinkie down. "There is literally nothing wrong with what they're doing. Maybe you're just jealous because you can't even get a girlfriend and they've found each other. None of that excuses the way youre acting, so pull your goddamn head out of your ass."

"Three," My ring finger went down. "Nowhere in the fricking bible does it outright say that being gay is bad. Find me the quote that explicitly says "and on the fifth day, God decided that gay people suck," and maybe I'll believe. But seeing as it doesn't exist, I'm not gonna listen to your bullshit."

"Four," My index finger went down. "Being gay is not a disease, your campaign will not cure them, they will not see the 'error of their ways'. Reading your posters will not suddenly increase their attraction to women. At most it will make them want to vomit, and not just because you used Comic Sans for the title."

"Five," I waved my middle finger in his face. "Well five sort of explains itself so I dont feel the need to say anything." I put my middle finger down and held my closed fist aloft.

"And finally, this is what I like to call a concluding statement." I punched him square in the face and took great satisfaction in watching him fall to the ground, clutching his nose. There was scattered applause and a few approving nods from the small group around us but I ignore them all and turned on my heel to leave.

"You're going to Hell!" Megatron called after me.

"Great! I'll see you down there." I replied and turned the corner nearly colliding into Dick Roman.

"I heard what you said. While I don't agree with it, that kind of spunk could be useful in our student council if youre interested." He said suavely.

"Dont be such a dick,...Dick." I brushed past him as I headed further down the hallway, if I was quick I could make it to class without being too late. As I slid into my seat in chemistry just before the bell rang, Sam was just doing the same.

"You punched out Metatron?" He said in awe, giving me the thumbs up.

"How the hell did you hear about that already? It happened like two minutes ago." News didnt not travel that quickly.

"I was watching.." He admitted sheepishly. "Youre gonna get in shit for that though. Megatron's bound to be crying to the principal as we speak."

"Miss Moore! You are needed down at the office." The teacher interuppted our talk and Sam gave me an "I told you so" look as I grabbed my books and left the room. I felt slightly nervous about getting in trouble but no part of me regretted what I did. I held my head high as I sat down in the office waiting room. Sure enough Megatron was already in there, holding a wad of tissues up to his nose and giving me a withering look. I smiled pleasantly and flipped him the bird whenever the secretary's weren't looking.

Badass to the end.


	16. Chapter 18

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective companies.

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy~

* * *

"You know, if you didn't spend so much time sleeping in class you would understand these concepts a bit more." Kevin said sighing as he broke down a particularly tricky trig problem for the fourth time. Both he and Charlie were over at my house trying to prep me for an exam we had coming up.

"I can't help it that the teacher is so boring...Or that I'm horrible at math." I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. My grades in math had never been great but they were starting to drop more rapidly and I needed all the help I could get.

"We could make up a song to help you out! _The quadratic formula is so much fun to learn_.." Charlie began but was interrupted by a knock on my window. We all turned around to see Cas standing outside, looking like a lost puppy.

"What are you doing here? Come to listen to Charlie's new song?" I asked cheerfully as I slid open the window.

"Dean broke up with me." Cas said staring at his feet, his shoulders hunched. There was a moment's pause before we all reacted at once. I pulled Cas inside while Charlie put away the math textbooks and Kevin flailed around the room, seeming to be not quite sure about what to do with himself. We managed to get settled with Cas sitting on the bed and the rest of us surrounding him.

"Did he say why?" Charlie asked tentatively.

"He just said that it wasn't working between us and that it was over. That's it, no real explanation." Cas said dully.

"That's bullshit! You guys were fine; marriage material even!" I said furrowing my brows. "There's got to be an something else going on here and I fully intend to find out." I grabbed my phone and dialed Dean's number in. Waiting the ridiculously long time for it to ring, I heard the chirpy answering machine tell me to leave a message. I tried several more times and received the same response. "That asshole is ignoring my calls now!"

"Maybe it's just a misunderstanding. Guys can be like that!" Kevin added.

"You watch too much Oprah, Kev."

"Shut up, Charlie!"

"Guys! Please, this is serious." I cut in, causing them to both look! rather bashful. "Cas, we'll work this out, don't worry about it. Don't give up hope yet." A load of empty promises but it was all I had to offer. Cas did look hopeful for a moment but it passed quickly and we collectively spent the rest of the evening trying to get his mind off of it, math exam completely forgotten. The next day I tracked Dean down in the parking lot where he was talking to Sam and Jo.

"Dean. A word with you please." I said lightly, trying to not let my eye twitch too much.

"Sure no problem, what's up Baby?" He said after we had moved away from the group. I knew that he knew what I knew, it was all too obvious by how uncomfortable he looked.

"Cas was pretty upset last night. Care to elaborate on that?" I could play the nonchalant game just as well as he could.

"Things just don't work out sometimes. Simple as that. He's a nice kid but there's no connection there." He said entirely deadpan.

"Bullshit, Dean!" I exploded with rage. "You and Cas were on cloud nine until last night! No connection my ass! Either you tell me what's up or I'll force it out of you, so help me God!"

"Keep your voice down, you're causing a scene!" He glared at all the people who stopped to look our way. "You wanna know? Sammy and I are skipping town, dad wants us outta here so we're going. I didn't wanna make it any harder on Cas than it has to be, so I broke up with him. Now you know."

My mouth dropped open in surprise. "When are you going?"

"Friday morning, noon at the latest."

"Two days from now? Dean! You should have said something sooner."

"We didn't know until yesterday. Dad came home from a trip and told us. That's the way we are, Baby, we don't stay in one place for long. I should've known better than to get attached." He looked away from me, swallowing hard.

"But you could stay! You could bunk at Cas' house...or mine! We can make this work, Dean. You guys don't have to leave."

"I'm sorry, Baby. But we have to go. Do me a favour and don't tell Cas. I don't want him freaking out."

"You know I'm gonna."

"I know." Dean gave me a sad smile and ruffled my hair. "Just break it to him gently. And tell him not to call me, I can't face him right now." He walked back over to Sam and Jo and resumed his previous conversation. As I walked to class, I felt myself torn between telling Cas and not telling him. Part of me wondered if it would be easier with him not knowing, then he wouldn't try to do anything stupid. I caught up with him at the lockers and I could tell he was putting up a brave face regardless of how crushed he had to be inside.

"Hey! What's up? You look glum." He noted, digging through a stack of papers.

"Cas, I need to tell you something."

"What? Is it about Dean?" He looked so hopeful again that the words caught in my throat.

"It's... It's just...I think they're serving that really gross pizza today at lunch, so we should go out somewhere instead." Cas looked disappointed once more and just nodded his head, grabbing the books he needed.

"Thanks for the heads up, see you in class." He started to walk off.

"Wait, Cas. The truth is, Dean and Sam are leaving town. Something about their dad wanting them to go, that's why he broke up with you." I admitted and I watched his face drop.

"Tell Crowley I'll be late, I'll be right back." He ran off and I was left standing by the lockers, feeling as though I had down something wrong. Come lunchtime, Dean and Cas were back to their usual hand holding but neither looked happy about it. The atmosphere stayed rather subdue for the next two days and time seemed to move at twice its regular speed. Dean agreed to meet up with Cas and I before they left in the morning.

"All packed up?" I asked Dean after he and Sam had pulled into the driveway. "Doesn't look like you have a lot of stuff."

"That's because we don't have a lot of stuff. Leaves more room for the guns." Dean said with a sour laugh. "I hope you don't mind, but I wanna talk to Cas in private for a bit."

"No problem, Sam and I can take a walk around the block." I motioned for Sam to follow me and we set off on a slow pace. Neither of us said anything for the first little while and I found myself not knowing quite what to say.

"I'm gonna miss it here. It's probably the nicest town we've stopped in." Sam said at last.

"Easy for you to say."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't have to stay here, you didn't grow up here. I feel chained to this town, like I'm never gonna escape it. I'll end up going to the crappy local university and end up owning a beauty parlor downtown or something."

"Nah, I'll come back and rescue you one day. Take a road trip to wherever you wanna go, for as long as you like. " Sam said smiling.

"Promise?"

"Promise. And I'll bring my idiot brother too so Cas has someone to talk to."

"I'm gonna hold you to that." I said as my house came back into view. We walked back to the driveway to find Cas and Dean both looking rather watery eyed.

"I think it's time we head out, Sammy. Dad's gonna be waiting for us." Dean said, his voice cracking slightly. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, Cas. I don't wanna hear you've holed yourself up in your room for six months and then jumped off a cliff for fun."

"I thought you said you didn't read those books?" I asked suspiciously.

"I didn't! That doesn't mean I don't know what happens in them." Dean said rolling his eyes. I reached over and gave him a hug, fighting back tears. "Take care of Cas for me, please." He whispered into my ear.

"I will, don't worry about us. Just take care of yourself...and Sam." He let go of me and I moved over to hug Sam, unable to say anything to him.

"Visit soon." Cas said staring at his feet while the brothers got back into the impala.

"We will, we'll be back before you know it." Dean said, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks.

"Don't forget about prom! You have to be back in time to take Cas. And don't you dare forget to bring a corsage." I called out to Dean as he backed out of the driveway.

"I know, blue to match his eyes." Dean answered back and tapped the horn lightly once before driving away. Cas and I watched in silence until the car was out of view. After a few more minutes my phone beeped, signalling it was time for us to head to school.

"We'll be okay, Cas." I said more to myself than anything as we walked the familiar route to school.

"I know, Baby. We always are."


	17. Author's note

A/N: So this isn't a new chapter (oops) just a little note that I'm getting rid of my chapters 16 and 17. Even I can agree they were shitbrick houses of problems :/. Got a little overambitious with the story and lost my original train of thought. I'm not gonna even try rewriting them, there's no point. They're aren't exactly relevant to the plot line anyway so sorry to everyone who read them and went "ummmm what?"

Don't lose faith in me! I'll have the next chapter up in a couple of days.

Thanks.


	18. Chapter 19

Had a busy weak sorry for the late update!

All rights belong to Supernatural and any other respective companies,

Reviews are always appreciated,

Enjoy~

* * *

"Yessss! Royal Flush, your ass and goldfish are mine!" Anna squealed in delight as she triumphantly laid down her cards. For such an unassuming kid, she kicked butt at poker.

"Aren't you a little young to be gambling?" A lightly accented voice said as the front door opened, causing us both to jump.

"Balthie!" Anna squealed again and ran to hug her brother.

"Anna! You're as short as ever. Haven't grown much since my last visit..." Balthazar said and cast this eyes over in my direction, giving me the once over. "Baby, you on the other hand...you've filled out!"

"Gross. And what's with the V-neck and Phony British accent? Those are new developments for you." I said wrinkling my nose. The eldest Novak child had been studying abroad in London for the past three years and it certainly hadn't helped his ego any.

"Rude." He said dismissively as he took a seat and propped his feet up on the table. Some things never changed. "Where's Cas?"

"Probably in his room listening to 'Angie' on repeat." I said as I dropped my cards down and shoved my pile of goldfish crackers towards Anna.

"Ahhh, yes. I heard about his little break up. That was a week ago though, shouldn't he have moved on by now?"

"Dude, Cas and Dean were like PB&J. You don't 'move on' from that in the span of a few days."

"I think he just needs to find some chocolate and get over it." Balthazar stated and I glared at him. Reaching for my phone, I quickly youtubed a song and within moments the soft strains of "My Heart Will Go On" filled the kitchen.

"Ugh! Be that way then. You've made your point, I'm leaving." He said and headed down the hallway. "Oh Cassie! Come give your big brother a kiss." I heard a door open and Cas came into the hallway, dodging out of the way of Balthazar's arms as he put on his coat.

"Where are you headed?" I asked as he tied his shoes.

"Out on a date with Bart. He's taking me out to dinner at the diner." Cas replied nonchalantly and both Anna and I raised our eyebrows in surprise. Bartholomew was another childhood friend of Cas. I used to call him "Fart" and he'd get really mad.

"Wow, Cas. Hope it works between you two." I feigned happiness and stomped on Balthazar's foot. He looked far too much like a kid in a candy store for my liking.

"Yeah, there's no use holing up in my room forever. I'm still young." Cas said sounding like he didn't quite believe his own words. The doorbell rang and Cas ran to answer it, revealing a very handsome looking Bart. Goddamn, puberty had been good to him.

"Ready to go, Cas? Oh hi Baby. It's been awhile, you look well." Bart said catching a glance of me over Cas' shoulder.

"Hey, Fart. You're not looking too shabby yourself." It pleased me to see that old, familiar flicker of annoyance cross his face.

"Mature as always." He muttered under his breath. "Anyways, we should head out. I made our reservation for 8 o'clock." The two of them waved as they left and the door slammed shut behind them, the sound ringing through the stunned silence.

"Plot twist!" Anna said dramatically waving her hands in the air.

"Hardly...but I'll agree that I didnt see them ever being a thing." I said shaking my head.

"We should spy on them." Both Anna and I slowly turn to face Balthazar.

"That sounds like a terrible idea, Balthazar. Isn't it past your bedtime anyways?"

"C'mon ladies, he mentioned that they were going to the diner, he wouldn't have told us that if he didn't want us to come along."

"Or he said it so we would know where he last was if he goes missing." Anna added solemnly.

"Exactly! We have to make sure he's safe and not going to be murdered!"

"Why do I have to be the adult here? We are not going to spy on them!" I said sternly, putting my foot down once and for all. There was no way I was going to involve myself in something so childish.

Within the next hour we had seated ourselves in the diner behind a plant large enough to hide us from sight but give us an unobstructed view of Cas and Bart's table. Balthazar had insisted we all wear our sunglasses to mask our identities but it made us even more noticeable.

"It's friggin' nighttime, Balthazar. We look like douchebags in these." I grumbled and attempted to take mine off but he shoved them back on my face.

"Keep your voice down!" He hissed and cast a side glance over at the couple.

"Look! I cut eyeholes in this newspaper so we can pretend to be reading it but actually be watching them!" Anna excitedly held up her creation.

"Anna, how many detective cartoons have you watched exactly?"

"Check it out! Cas looks super pissed." Balthazar tugged on my shirt sleeve and we all spun around to look. Sure enough, they were arguing about something in hushed tones. Bart looked as though he didn't understand why Cas wasn't agreeing with him, while Cas looked strangely smug and pissed at the same time. This went on for several minutes before Cas abruptly stood up and threw his glass of water in Bart's face before heading directly to our table. We all tried to act as though we hadn't been watching them but it didn't go so well; Anna had started to read her holey newspaper, I fiddled with all the cutlery on the table and Balthazar had pretended to be sleeping.

"Can I catch a ride back home with you guys?" Cas asked, ignoring our ploy completely. The ride back home was rather awkward, I had tried to ask Cas what had gone on between him and Bart but he only shook his head and mumbled something about "differing opinions."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, you could always come camping with me and my family this weekend? Anna can come too!" I offered, hoping to cheer him up.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Balthzar roared and slammed on the brakes causing the rest of us to be thrown forward in our seats. "I have a whole weekend planned out for family and you are not ruining it."

"Sheesh, you spaz. It was just a suggestion." I glared at him. Balthazar had a special way of ruining things himself; I hated having to go to camping with just my parents. There was never any fun to it.

As the weekend finally came around, the weather took a turn for the better and I almost felt bad for Cas having to be cooped up his house. He waved folornly at me from his front window as I carried my suitcase to the trailer and it was remarkable how much he managed to look like a sad puppy at a pet store. As I expected though, even the warm weather couldn't keep me from being bored and I found myself resorting to going on frequent snack runs at the dingy gas station just beside the campsite so I would have at least something to I perused through the 5 cent candies, a flash of plaid forced me to do a double take. Sure enough, Sam Winchester was filling up a basket with enough energy drinks to keep the population of California awake for a year.

"Sam! What are you doing here?" I all but screamed as I ran over to him.

"Oh...H-hey, Baby. Nice to see you." He kept his distance and shot nervous glances off to his left every few seconds and I looked over to see his dad adding Beef jerky to his own basket several aisles over.

"I thought you guys were supposed to be going far away or something? Are you coming back for a visit? Where's Dean? I wanna see him as well!" I scanned the store but saw no sign of the elder Winchester brother.

"He's..He's waiting in the car. Listen, I gotta go. It was nice seeing you again." He turned around to leave but I grabbed his arm.

"What's up with you? Why are you acting like I have the plague or something?"

"Because dad will kill me if he sees me talking to you." Sam said through gritted teeth. "We were staying at Bobby's and Dean was trying to convince dad to let us go back but then he let it slip about Cas and him..." He cut himself off and took a deep breath. "It's not that dad is upset that Dean is gay, it's more the fact that he would choose Cas over him. Dad's big on family and when Dean wanted to turn his back on our way of life, dad got angry. I've never seen them fight like that. And now dad wants us to have nothing to do with you guys. We just stopped here for fuel, we're heading out to Colorado for awhile and then who knows where we'll go."

"How can you live like that, Sam? How can your dad think that's the right way to raise you guys?" I said in a hushed voice.

"You get used to it when it's all you've ever known. My mom died when I was a baby and it screwed dad up something fierce. It's not like it's ever gonna change for us, so I've gotten used to it." Sam said offhandedly, keeping a watchful eye on his father.

"Well I don't like it. I'm paired up with Bela in Chem now and it's just not the same. Not to mention Cas is in full on teen angst mode now. He even went on a date with Bart." I replied.

"Really? How'd that go?" Sam said, taking his eyes off his father to look at me in surprise.

"Not so well...I think they lasted about an hour and a half before Cas dumped his water on Bart's head. He hasn't said a word about the incident since and gets mad at anyone who tries to bring it up."

"They don't seem like a good match anyhow."

"That's what we thought about Cas and Dean though, and look how well that went for them-"

"Baby, what a surprise to see you here." John's voice cut in our conversation, startling both Sam and I.

"D-dad! Are we going now?" Sam asked, paling instantly.

"Yeah, I have everything we need. We shouldn't keep Dean waiting outside too long. " John gave me a rather forced smile. "It was nice seeing you again, tell Cas I said hi." Not gonna happen.

"Yeah, See you, Mr. Winchester. Bye, Sam. Hope you have a good life!" I said cheerfully and Sam glared at me slightly before stalking off after his father. I abandoned my own snacks and headed back outside. I nearly bumped into Dean who was leaning against a telephone pole.

"Hey! I didn't think I'd get to see you, Sam said you were in the impala." I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"Tell Cas to stop calling me, would you? I'm not gonna pick up and it's getting on my nerves." Dean said simply not meeting my gaze.

"Okay..I didn't think he was still calling you..." I said quietly, confused by his attitude.

"That's your problem, isn't it? You don't think." He brushed past me and headed towards the impala. All at once I was glad I hadn't brought Cas along; he wouldn't have been able to deal with this. I squared my shoulders and started walking back to the campground, slightly disappointed with myself that I couldn't come up with any retort. As I walked alongside the highway, the impala passed by me and John tapped the horn lightly. I raised my hand to wave but they were already too far away. As I continued on, I tried my hardest to convince myself that Dean was just a low-life, asshole and Sam was just his whiny, kid brother. That Cas and I were better off not knowing them and we had dodged a major bullet when they left. I even tried to promise myself that I would never watch stay up late watching the stars again because it was stupid and half of them were burnt out anyway. Later on as the sky darkened and I laid back on the cool grass and traced the constellations with my index finger, I could only truly convince myself of two things;

That none of that previous stuff was true, and I was never going to see them again.

And that was just fine.


End file.
